


Ghost : The Winter Soldier

by BuckyCinnamonRoll



Series: Merly Velasko aka The Raven [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, F/F, F/M, Hydra (Marvel), Light Angst, Loki is a drama queen, M/M, Merly is just doing her best, Protective Bucky Barnes, SHIELD, Thor is a Good Bro (Marvel), Tony hides his feelings, Tony is bi, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, natasha is bi, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 28
Words: 43,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28722336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuckyCinnamonRoll/pseuds/BuckyCinnamonRoll
Summary: Merly Velasko aka The Raven, struggles to adjust to the modern world after waking up from cryogenic stasis along with her best friend Steve Rogers. While she attempts to catch up with the new technology and new enemies, she will soon learn that the cause of her pain was never defeated and has grown stronger since her presumed death. Merly will have to pull herself apart to find clues that may lead to solving the riddles plaguing her life.
Series: Merly Velasko aka The Raven [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105610





	1. SHIELD FILE

(This is the book I have up on Wattpad at [BuckyCinnamonRoll](https://www.wattpad.com/user/BuckyCinnamonRoll)) 

The Raven

S.H.I.E.L.D FILE

Name: Merly Ravenna Velasko

Aliases:The Raven, Agent V, The living legend,The Super Soldier.

DOB: August 13, 1918  
Place of Birth: Unknown  
Parents: (Biological)Unknown  
Siblings:None

Affiliations:  
· The Avengers  
· S.H.I.E.L.D  
· Howling Commandos ( former )

Abilities:  
·Enhanced hearing (echoes,vibrations)  
· Night vision  
· Speed/Reflex  
· Strength  
·Accelerated Healing

Other Information:  
Friends with Steven Grant Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes since childhood. First and only female in the Howling Commandos. Found in the Arctic ice along with Rogers.


	2. Missions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (I suck at summaries.) Merly is just trying her best to take down bad guys, even if they have fabulous hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please keep in mind that I wrote this when I was fifteen, and it was also my first ever fanfic. Plus, english isn't my native language. Also keep in mind that Merly is not caucasian.

"So I'm guessing you guys want a ride, right? " I tell both Steve and Nat through my earpiece.

"I thought you weren't showing up." Steve says.

"I wasn't gonna let my bestfriend go on a mission alone." I tell him as I level the Quinjet next to the ship.

"Well you only provided transportation." Nat says as they both get in.

"At Least you didn't jeopardize the mission." Steve mutters shooting a glare at Nat.

"Ok, but to be clear we had different missions." Nat says putting up her hands in her defense.

"So I'm guessing captain hook got away." As I look over the mission report file that Rumlow is currently making.

"Yes." Steve says glaring once again at Nat.

"And I understood that reference." He says smiling at me. I've been watching a lot of shows and movies lately, you know , so I can catch up on these past 70 years. "We should watch some movies together again, Stevie." I tell him.

"Maybe when we're not busy." He says as he cleans his shield.

"Yeah, since he's always busy ." Nat says, taking a seat behind me.

"Still with the dating thing." I look over at Nat giving her a 'seriously' look.

"Why are you guys so against dating ?" Nat shakes her head.  
Neither one of us answers. Steve just rubs a thumb over the compass he always carries that has a picture of Peggy, and I absently rub the silver ring on my left hand.

Honestly, Steve and I have a hard time getting through the fact that everyone we knew is gone. And he still hasn't moved on from Peggy, just like I've been having a hard time trying to move on from Bucky. I know it's been decades, but I was cryogenic most of the time.

*****

"Hey, Peggy." I greet the woman in front of me. I had always looked up to Peggy after I met her, she didn't even know me but she stuck by my side to make sure I was treated properly when the doctors and scientists wanted to kill me for the Super Soldier serum since the last vial was smashed into my eyes while trying to stop Kruger and she also trained after the whole Super Soldier serum thing.

"Merly, my little bird." She croaks out while caressing my cheek. You have no idea how happy I was when I found out she was still alive.

"You're still as beautiful as ever." She smiles weakly.  
"You kept your good looks as well." I tell her as I look at the pictures she has on her nightstand.  
"You have a beautiful family, I guess your genes are strong." I tell her and she lets out a dry laugh.  
"Yes indeed, my only regret is that you didn't get the one you wanted." She sighs.  
"James would've been proud of you, you know." She says holding on to my hand. My heart practically breaks every time someone mentions Bucky. He was literally my first boyfriend, my first love, my first everything. We started dating when he was 19 and I was 18, not once did we ever break up.

Him and Steve were all I ever had.

I let out a small laugh.  
"Yeah, well if we had found his body then he'd probably be rolling around his casket, if he knew how much danger I put myself in." 

"But you do it to save the world, just like he did." She smiles.

So after a while of talking with Peggy and hearing about her adventures with Howard, I finally said goodbye after Fury sent me a text.

As soon as I leave the room my phone starts ringing.  
"Did Fury tell you about the Helicarriers that can cause mass murder ?" Steve says, not giving me time to properly answer the phone.

I roll my eyes. "Yes, he showed me a few days ago, and before you get mad I'll let you know that I don't agree with his methods of stopping terrorism or any other type of crime." I tell him so he can leave me alone for a few minutes. He's just way too patriotic for me, and his morals are probably going to get him killed one day.

"At Least someone agrees with me." He answers in relief.  
"I'm your best friend. It's my job to agree with you no matter what." I tell him as I leave the medical/retirement home Peggy is in.

"Yeah, well I guess I'll see you later." He says and hangs up. He's not a very good conservationist.

"One incoming call" Liz says as soon as I put on my helmet. Let me explain, Liz is my very own version of Jarvis and she's pretty helpful.  
"From who ?"  
"Fury, Nicholas J. "

"Put him through."

"Raven, I need you to meet me along with Hill. You have less than three hours. In deep shadow condition." Fury always calls me Raven.

"Can I know why ?" I ask him, Lately Fury has been asking me and Nat to do some missions under S.H.I.E.L.D's radar.

"Woman, why do you think I said deep shadow conditions ?" Fury answers slightly irritated.

"Well then, were are we meeting ?" I need to know information.

"I'll send you the locati....."The line suddenly breaks and goes static.

"Fury? FURY !" I yell trying to hear something with my super hearing and the last thing I hear are multiple shots fired.

"Liz get me back on the line."

"His communication systems appear to be malfunctioning"

"What? Why?" 

"Running a full scan of Fury's vehicle." 

"Liz,get me Fury's location, Now!" I tell her and a map immediately appears on my helmet screen with the location of Fury. My helmet works similar to the iron man head piece thing.

"We are approximately 10 minutes away, with traffic." 

"I can make it in less than 5." I start accelerating my motorcycle and go around every car and maybe through some red lights.

"Liz, update on what happened."

"His vehicle appears to be greatly damaged and multiple bullet holes are detected."

"Do you know who did it?" Why would someone attack a S.H.I.E.L.D director in broad daylight.That's basically a suicide mission.

"Security cameras nearby are shut down temporarily."

"Can you find out who ?" Seriously, I go cryo for almost 70 years and the world goes to shit with freedom and paranoia.

"S.H.I.E.L.D's orders."

"What? Ok fine, uhh look on the media keyword: shootout , drive by or something similar." I can already hear some shots fired a few streets down.

"Media show chaos by police shooting at a black Chevy Tahoe."

"The police? are you sure?" Isn't the police supposed to protect you. No wonder people hate the police nowadays.

"Fake police officers. There are no police units stationed in the area."

I turn down the road and see Fury's car all battered.  
"Yeah there's no way that's the police."

"Liz give me my gun."   
The gun ejects from in front of my motorcycle and I start shooting at every cop near as I try to get closer to Fury.

Suddenly one of the cars gets closer to Fury's SUV and I slow down immediately so that I won't be crushed between the two automobiles.

"Liz put her on auto pilot or whatever you call it, just make her go on her own." Look I'm no professional when it comes to talking to a machine, we didn't have these back in my day.

"Yes Ms.Raven"

I jump on top of the car and shoot multiple bullets where the driver is supposed to be and then I try to pull a police man off of Fury's window. The police car then swerves away from us and I jump onto Fury's SUV and the police guy stays hanging from the driver's side. "Get off." Fury yells and I shoot the guy then throw him off the SUV before jumping onto my motorcycle.

"Hey old man ! you think you can jump?" I ask trying to get as close as possible to his side.

"Scanning shows more than one injury that will prevent him from doing so."

"Brake!" I yell to Fury once I see a guy dressed in all black standing in the middle of the road holding a dangerously looking gun.

I guess slowing down didn't help at all, because the guy shoots something under Fury's car, making it explode right next to me.

The guy smoothly turns around to avoid the SUV coming his way and watches it slide down the street. I take this as my chance to attack him.

I tilt my bike and knock him down and in the process I wrap my legs around his neck. I learned those infamous moves from Black Widow.

He pulls a knife out ready to stab me but I lean over his head to grab his hand "I know we just met but..." I start twisting his wrist so he can drop the knife "... but I want to tell you ..."  
He pulls out a gun and shoots at my bulletproof helmet.  
"...that you have such beautiful hair." 

At that he grabs my helmet twisting it off and I jump off of him at the same time so that he won't end up twisting my neck. Luckily the helmet only falls off.

"Liz get the bike out of here." And my motorcycle immediately takes off on its own.

I pull out my own dagger and attack him and while I throw a few swings-which he blocked by the way- I try to stab him on his left arm but to my surprise nothing happens, it's like metal against metal.

"What the hell ?" I just stare at his arm shocked, which gives him the opportunity to throw me against a car.  
He then grabs another gun and starts shooting at me again. I jump behind the car, pull out my gun and shoot at him as well. Seriously, how many guns does this guy have.

"Liz, self destruct the helmet." I tell her as I start running out of bullets.

" Are you sure ?" 

"Yes do it Now!" I immediately bolt off and the helmet blows up, not a big explosion but good enough to hide me in the smoke, allowing me to get away.

"Did Fury get away ?" I ask as my motorcycle comes towards me without stopping and I jump on it and speed away from the scene.

"Fury made a successful escape."

"Fury has sent a message."

"What does it say?"

"Crashing at Steve's place. Wife kicked me out."

"Okay at least he's alive. Could you identify the guy back there ?" I want to know more about this guy who was just as strong as me and really skilled. You never know, he might come after me next time.

"Unable to identify the man."

"He's not from here right? 'Cause those weapons aren't exactly all American made." I noticed his weapons and fighting tactics and I wasn't very familiar with them.

"They appeared to be Soviet made."

"Well let's go to Steve's place tonight and get me off the grid." I avoid as many cameras as possible on my way there.

"Yes Ms.Raven."


	3. Pursuit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My grammar at fifteen years old wasn't the best and this is so fast paced idk why. Anyways, Steve is a very pale boy in the moonlight according to Merly.

“Want some coffee ?" I ask the beat up Nick Fury sitting in front of me.

"That would be nice, thank you." He says and put up a finger to his lips then holds up his phone which says S.H.I.E.L.D Compromised.

"So what did you do for your wife to kick you out ?" I ask him hinting at the fact that someone tried to murder him.  
He holds up his phone Wait for Steve. He then leans over to start the old music record player Steve has in his apartment. I give him an irritated sigh and go into the kitchen to make some coffee and maybe to get some snacks.

I walk back into the living room and hand Fury his coffee then I sit across from him to rest for a few minutes until Steve gets here.

About an hour later after inspecting both Fury and I's injuries, I hear a window open and Instinctively reach over to my newly loaded gun.  
I hear them pick up the shield and walk closer to me, I immediately turn the corner and point my gun at the person only to see Steve holding up his shield.

"Dammit you scared me." I whisper to him and I put up a finger to my lips to silence him then I motion him to follow me into the living room.

"I'm sorry I had to do this. My wife kicked me out." Fury says and holds out his phone showing Steve the same message he showed me.

"I didn't know you had a wife." Steve says as he looks around before putting down his shield.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me." Fury simply answers.

"So who else knows about your wife ?" Steve asks, making a 'you kidding me ' face.

"Just me and my friends." Fury answers looking at both of us.

I hear some hushed footsteps nearby but I can't exactly pinpoint the location it's coming from since Steve's squeaky player is still on and it keeps distracting me.

I hear the smooth sound of bullets being loaded and ready to be fired. “GET DOWN!" I yell, but unfortunately I wasn't fast enough because Fury gets shot about three times and collapses in front of me.

"Fury! oh my god." I start panicking as I try to put pressure on his wounds, which is really hard because there's three freaking bullet holes in him.

"Come on, you're gonna be fine old man." I say and he grabs my hand slipping a USB drive into my palm. He looks at both Steve and I and says "Don't.Trust.Anyone."

"Captain Rogers. I'm Agent 13 from S.H.I.E.L.D's special service. I'm assigned to protect you." I hear a woman call out from the entrance right after she kicks the door open.

"On whose orders ?" Steve asks, all defensive and suspicious.

"On his."  
The woman simply says as she gets down to check Fury's pulse and pulls out a walkie-talkie or whatever the hell they're called. I'm sorry, I'm still catching up with this new evolving technology.

"His pulse is getting weaker." I tell her once I listen closely to his heartbeat. Yeah, it's actually kind of disturbing to be able to hear heartbeats, well I don't actually hear the actual heart. I only hear the vibrations of it, but I can use it as an advantage to tell when someone is lying.

"Do you have a 20 on the shooter ?" A man asks through the speaker.

"Tell them we're in pursuit." I tell the woman and both Steve and I jump out through the window after I catch a glimpse of a shining metal arm through the window.

Steve goes through the building across from us but I climb up to the roof as fast as possible.  
Once I'm on the roof I run as fast as I can to catch up to the guy with the metal arm.

"Wait up." I call out but the guy just keeps on running. I kind of expected for him to stop and shoot at me, it's not stupid at all because if he stops then I can get a chance to catch up to him, so either he knew what I was trying to do or he just simply didn't care about me.

"It's not fair! You got a head start." I jump onto the other building exactly at the same time Steve jumps out of the window from the other building I just jumped from. These landings from building-to-building really hurt your knees after a while.

This is it, this is the last building, unless the guy plans on continuing this chase on the streets.

Steve throws his shield but the guy turns around and catches it with his metal arm. I look at him straight in the eye and we stare at each other. The look in his eyes seems like he's going to regret what he's about to do.

Which he should because he throws the damn shield with a little too much force causing it to knock me off of the building. I hold the shield tightly to my left side so that it can at least break my fall.

The metal-arm guy should really regret this because it hurts like hell when you fall off a building. It's like the impact pain shoots through all of your body, immobilizing you for a moment.

"Merly! Are you ok?" Steve yells as he climbs down the building's ladder.

"I just fell off of a building. What do you think ?" I answered him as I let out a few grunts from the pain radiating through my body.

"I think you should be checked by the medics." Steve then picks me up and takes me to the ambulance that just arrived.

"Yeah, no shit. I think I broke my spine or something." I blink my eyes rapidly trying to get rid of a few dark spots. " I don't think the night should be this dark cause I can barely see your pale face Mr. America"

Steve raises an eyebrow as he inspects my head. "I think you hit your head a little too hard."

"He got away, didn't he." I groan out. "Yeah, we'll catch him. I promise." Steve says and places a small kiss on my forehead before the medics start putting all kinds of wires on me.

"I damn hope so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please have mercy on my grammar, this was written ages ago. Full story is already up in Wattpad under the same username. The whole series is actually already up on Wattpad too.


	4. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha and Steve get it on front of Merly's salad while she's high on pain killers. (It's embarrassing how I used to write.)

After the medics checked me, they took me to the same hospital as Fury for a further diagnosis and they just ended up giving me a few strong painkillers.

Nat barges into the room and chokes on a sob when she sees the doctors performing a surgery on Fury.  
"How many ?" She chokes out.

"Three slugs. Short-range ballistics. Completely untraceable." Agent Hill answers.  
Out of all of us, she's the only one actually managing to keep herself composed.

"Soviet made ?" Nat asks in deep thought. Hill gets a confused look as to how Nat guessed correctly. "Yeah."

Nat grips my arm and turns me her way. "Did you see them ?"  
Since I'm a bit drowsy from the painkillers, Steve beats me to the answer. "He was strong and fast."

"Yeah he was definitely strong. "I showed her my bruised fists from our fight earlier today. "And he had a metal arm."

Nat gets a dazed look and seems to be piecing the things together in her head.

The rapid beeping sound from the heart monitor snaps her out of her thoughts. "No, don't do this to me." She whispers when the doctors start trying to resuscitate him. 

"No,no. Come on old man." I too whisper as I put my hands against the glass window.  
The doctor checks his watch as he also checks for the pulse on Fury's neck. "Time of death 1:03 AM"

I immediately put my ear next to the glass and try to hear his heart beat, but it's really difficult because there are a lot of worried thumping hearts in the same room as me and there are many machines beeping in the surgery room. But I don't hear anything coming from Fury.

He's gone.

Nat looks at me hopefully, but lets her tears fall once she sees the sad look on my face and the tear running down my bruised eye.

I couldn't save him. 

********

Agent Hill comes into the room where we were allowed a few last moments with Fury's corpse. "They need to take him." A few stray tears fall down towards her lips.

I walk over to Nat and slightly squeeze her shoulder."They,uh... need to take him." I struggle to get the words out in a comforting way. But honestly I am not one to comfort people, that's just not one of my skills.  
I do understand what she's going through, losing someone who has been a great influence on you really takes a toll on you. I remember her telling me that Fury and Clint were the first to trust her once she left the KGB for S.H.I.E.L.D 

She puts her hand on his head, wipes a tear away, and walks away without looking at anyone or saying a word.  
Steve takes off after her and I give Hill a small nod.

"Why was Fury at your apartment ?" Nat asks Steve completely normal now. She sometimes freaks me out whenever she does her quick mood changes,she could be crying one second and the next she could be laughing her ass off.

"I don't know."Steve answers while giving me a questioning look.

Rumlow interrupts their conversation."Captain Rogers you're needed at S.H.I.E.L.D now." 

"Raven." Steve calls for me and I start walking his way.  
"Just you Cap." Rumlow says and gives me a cold stare.

"It's alright, I'll stay here with Nat." I tell him as I go for a hug and he slips the flash drive into my jacket pocket. I had given it to him when I got on the ambulance.

As soon as Steve is gone, Nat roughly grabs my shoulder and shoves me into an empty room.  
"Aye,I know you're attracted to me but I'm all roofied up, so please don't take advantage of me like this."

She rolls her eyes at me. "What's on it ?" She asks me while reaching for the flash drive in my pocket but I slap her hand away.  
"You got it, you should know." I tell her.

"But Fury gave it to you. Why ?" She crosses her arms and gives me a suspicious look.  
"I don't know,okay." I say slumping down on the cold hospital chair.

"You're lying, there's something you're not telling me." She stares at me. "Oh yeah. I guess I forgot to tell you that I got in a fight with Fury's assassin, earlier today and he threw me off a building a few hours ago." I snapped at her.

"Look we should wait for Steve to get back, then we can talk. I mean, we were in his apartment so maybe he knows something we don't." I tell her while I close my eyes as the painkillers finally win against my consciousness.

********

A loud thud jolts me awake from my deep sleep. 

"What's on it ?" I hear Steve's voice as I try to focus my blurry vision.

"I don't know." Nat answers as Steve pinned her against a wall.  
"Do better." Steve growls as he holds Nat's hoodie between his fists. "I only act like I know everything."She smirks.

"Guys, don't do it right in front of me." I tell them and Steve pulls away from Nat as if he had been burned.

"Besides, Fury gave it to her." Nat says and they both stare at me waiting for an explanation. I stand up and straighten my jacket. "Oh I don't know much. All I know is that Fury wanted to meet me earlier today. In deep shadow conditions." I don't mention Agent Hill because I don't want to throw her under the bus.

"We need to get you out of here now." Steve says as he puts my beanie on my ruffled hair.  
"What? why?" I asked confused as he dragged me away while avoiding all the security guards.

"Alexander Pierce was questioning me about you and how Fury probably put those pirates on that ship." He says and we make our way to the mall that is a street down from the hospital.

"Why are we going to the mall? And what happened to you back at S.H.I.E.L.D ?" I ask as we walk into the mall and both Steve and Nat look around the area.

He gives me a slight shrug."Lets just say that the three of us are now suspects on Fury's death and S.H.I.E.L.D is after us." 

"Oh, beautiful. Not only do I might have a gorgeous assassin after me, but I also have a super secret agency after me as well."  
We reach the apple store and I put in my ear piece I made so I could have Liz with me.  
"Alright,while you guys crack that thing, I'm gonna go get some food." I start walking away but Steve stops me. "You're not leaving my side." He says sternly.

"I haven't had food in my system since yesterday. Besides I've got Liz, we'll keep a lookout." I tell him and hand him my phone and the flash drive.  
"It's completely untraceable, I promise."He gives me a hesitant nod and I leave.

Not many people know about Liz,only the people that helped me create her, like Tony, Nat, Fury, and even JARVIS. I modified her so that she could be untraceable.

On my way to the pretzel place I snatched some sunglasses from a stand.  
"Liz, call my phone."

"Yes Ms.Raven"

"Merly?" Steve answers.  
"So how long will it take?" I ask as I wait in line for my pretzel.  
"Less than 10 minutes, and bring us some food will you."

"Yes sir." The serum had its not so bad side effects like an accelerated healing system which means we heal at a faster rate than a human but we can't get drunk whatsoever and we have a high metabolism so we burn through a lot of calories.

So after a few minutes of walking around the mall I spot a few STRIKE people, it's not that hard because they're all dressed in black and have their guns in plain sight, not very clever if they want to catch us.

"Uh, guys we got company. A lot of company." I tell them as I spot more agents coming in.

"They're blocking the exits. Make a distraction." Nat says through my earpiece. 

I head to the nearest parking garage exit but Rumlow's people are by all of the exits.

"Liz, shut-off half of the power for a few seconds."

"I can shut off the lights in the halls that lead to the garage exits"

"Yes, you do that, just give me about ten seconds."

"Yes Ms.Raven."

I set my watch-timer to 10 seconds and darted straight towards the four men and a woman covering my exit.

Just as they pull out their guns,I grin at them and the power goes off, now I have the advantage because of my night vision. All of them get back-to-back and keep their guns pointed straight ahead. 

I grab the tool box next to me and I throw it to the left, making it seem like it came from the direction opposite of me. And just like I planned,they start shooting at the empty hall. I jump and hold onto the pipes above us and kick my legs in opposite directions, knocking down two men.  
Immediately I throw two small electrical discs at two other men, courtesy of Black Widow. I reach down to grab a gun as I dodge the bullets being fired at me then I turn and shoot the legs of the woman standing .

The two men I kicked a few seconds ago are now getting back up, so I get down again pulling out a ring dagger, I slide across their way on knees as I dig the dagger through their calves. That has really gotta hurt.

Just as I'm about to get back up, the woman grabs a fist full of my hair and forcefully yanks me backwards. "Bitch." I hiss at her as I flip us around and I throw a few punches at her face. "Don't ever touch my hair."

I reach down to remove her gun.  
"Well, what do you know, this gun has exactly five bullets. Better put them to good use." I cynically whisper to her, and I do put them to good use. I won't tell you how, but they were used. I enjoy making jokes or saying scary things during a fight because let's be honest, it makes you look even more badass.

"Would you look at that, we have four seconds to spare, Liz." 

"Guys I've got the transportation covered. Meet me at the garage exit."I tell Nat over my earpiece as I try to unlock a truck.

********

Nat turns around in her seat and looks back at me. "So where did you learn how to steal a car?"

"WWII Nazi Germany. " I tell her with a mouthful of pretzel.  
"She was the one to give us transportation and back-up so we made her officially part of the Howling Commandos." Steve says smiling proudly. It's not every day you see a girl dropping off her boyfriend and bestfriend at a battlefield.

"So I just have a question."Nat says to Steve as she tries to hold back a smile. Steve gives her a weird look. "What?"  
"Was that your first kiss since 1945 ?" She asks.  
"It was that bad." Steve sighs."No, I'm not saying that at all..." Nat explains but is interrupted after I nearly choked on my pretzel."Wait, what?!? You guys were making out while I was fighting for our lives?!"

"To avoid Rumlow's attention.." Steve looks at me through the rearview mirror then turns to Nat "... and that wasn't my first kiss since 1945. I'm 95, not dead."

I just shrug at his unbelievable answer. "Well I haven't kissed anyone in almost 70 years, but I'm not complaining. "

Nat snaps her head towards me and shoots me an incredulous look. " Oh really, I guess you must've forgotten the teasing you had to do on some of your missions."

"Look it's just a little meaningless teasing alright." I hold up my hands in my defense. It's true, I've never kissed or flirted with anyone since the last time I was with Bucky.

Nat lets out a mock laugh and rolls her eyes at us. "You two keep telling your selves those little unbelievable lies so you can sleep at night."

I lean over to Nat. "So,uh... do you know more about our mysterious guy ?"

"I think I know who killed Fury." 

She doesn't say anything else, god I hate these dramatic pauses.  
"Well care to enlighten me cause he almost killed me twice in one day ." 

"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists, the ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years." She says and my jaw practically drops to the floor.  
"Wha..how old is he ?" The guy didn't even look that old, he looked like he was in his late twenties like me, although granted I actually slowed down aging at 16 and completely stopped at 21.

"That's the mystery. Which makes people doubt he actually exists." She teases.  
"So he's a ghost story."

" Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot at my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me." She pulls up her shirt to show us the bullet wound/scar on the side of her stomach. "A Soviet slag, no rifling. Bye-bye bikinis."

Steve snorts and rolls his eyes. "I bet you look terrible in them."  
"Not really. I've seen her before." I tell him and he looks at me wide-eyed. "What were you doing ?"

"Well we lived together for a few weeks, and she didn't give a damn of what I saw." I explain and Nat just nods in agreement. It's kind of weird how she became so comfortable around me so quickly.

I shake my head."I'm sorry, let's get back to the topic." 

"Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried." Nat looks over at me holding up the flash drive. "Like you said, he's a ghost story." I take the flash drive from her.

"Well, let's find out what the ghost wants."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why did I think I was good back then ? *shudders*


	5. Hydra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Renata just wanted to do her job dammit.

"Are you sure this is where the file came from?" I ask Nat as I snatch away her tracking device.  
She looks over at me confused."Yeah, the file came from these coordinates."

Steve looks over at the sign on the fence."So did we."

Steve was trained here at this camp for the project Rebirth and I was trained here by Peggy after my accident with the serum.

"This is a dead end." Nat waves around her tracker.

I nod in confirmation as I walk around trying to find signs of another presence." Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio."

"Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off." Nat says as she waves around her device once again.

Steve notices something off about one of the buildings ahead of us. "What is it?" Nat asks as we walk over to the building.

"Army regulations forbid storing ammunition within five hundred yards from the barracks." Steve mutters.

I look over to Nat to clarify the answer."This building is in the wrong place." She nods and Steve smashes the lock with his shield and we enter inside, when they turn on the lights I notice it's a S.H.I.E.L.D office.

"This must be were S.H.I.E.L.D started." Steve whispers as we walk around the building.  
Why would the file tell us to come to an abandoned office, not to mention it's practically an ancient building.

We enter a room where we find old framed portraits of Howard Stark, Peggy and Col. Chester Phillips. Nat looks over to us proudly "There's Stark's father." 

"Howard." Steve answers with a faint smile. "Who's the girl?" Nat nods over to Steve but he doesn't reply and turns away to walk further down the room. I look over to Nat then back at Peggy's portrait. The look of regret is plastered all over Nat's face and I just walk away without saying a word. 

I'm not being rude, it's just that Peggy and Howard were good friends of ours and Peggy was Steve's first love, so she's a sensitive subject to talk about.

I clear my throat rather loudly and awkwardly. "So what exactly are we looking for? This place is empty. There's nothing much to look at, only dusty chairs and empty desks."  
Nat looks over at me after opening a few empty cabinets. "Not really sure."

Steve lets out a frustrated sigh."There's gotta be something."

I hear a slight air current on the wall across from me."Maybe there is." I tap on the shelf and hear the vibration echo through an empty space before it changes its echoe somewhere else.

"If you're already in a secret office."Steve pulls one side of the shelf and I pull the other side. "Why do you need to hide the elevator ?"

"Was this place like this back when you were here ?" Nat asks us. "Yes, we knew because the government shared all of their secrets with us." I answer sarcastically and Nat glares at me. "No, of course not. S.H.I.E.L.D didn't even exist back then."

"Wow,you guys are old." She snickers as she waves her device over the keypad and it displays a holographic code. We step into the elevator after putting in the code.The elevator takes us down towards yet another old room, except this one is full of old computers.

Nat looks around the room confused."This can't be the data-point, this technology is ancient." As I look around I notice a small black-shinny flash drive port. I tap her shoulder and nod towards it. "That's not."  
She places the flash drive in it which then activates the ancient computer in the room. Yeah, this place is completely ancient, just like Steve and I.

Suddenly the computer turns on and it starts talking." Initiate system?" Natasha types using the old dusty keyboard singing "Y-E-S, spells yes." Natasha smiles as the old computer starts to crank up. "Shall we play a game?" She turns to smirk at us. "It's from a movie that..." 

"Yeah, I saw it." Steve cuts her off with a serious tone. But I on the other hand don't answer as seriously. "Yeah, it was terrible. I can't believe you made me watch that." I add a dramatic shiver and she smiles while Steve just rolls his eyes.

Suddenly we hear an accented voice speaking. I know that voice very well. Just hearing his voice makes my blood boil. 

"Rogers, Steven Grant. Born, 1918.  
Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984.  
Velasko, Merly Ravenna.  
Born 1918"  
I notice an old camera moving above us as if it were analyzing us.

"It's some kind of a recording." Nat says as she inspects around the computer. 

"I am not a recording, Fräulein. I may not be the man I was when the Raven took me prisoner in 1945, but I am." The computer screen shows an old photo of none other than Dr. Arnim Zola after I captured him.

The man I hate more than anything, even more than the Red Skull. That son of bitch experimented and nearly killed my Bucky.

I remember I chased after him and Red Skull while Steve went to go save Bucky.

Nat turns to us "Do you know this thing ?"

Steve answers with slight venom lacing his voice. "Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull." I continue for him. "He's been dead for years." And I wish I was the one who killed him. Slowly and Painfully.

"First correction, I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972 I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body, my mind, however, that was worth saving on two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain."  
I stare at the floor in disgust, just imagining if we were actually standing on a brain. "Dude that's disgusting." I mutter under my breath, unnoticed.

"How did you get here ?" Steve demands his answer.  
"I was Invited." You can practically hear as if the program was smirking, which I don't know how to explain. Maybe it's my anger and imagination.

Natasha turns to us with a look of realization. "It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. S.H.I.E.L.D recruited German scientists with strategic values."

"Are you kidding me ?! Did they not learn anything ?!" I yell in frustration. "I thought S.H.I.E.L.D would be smarter about recruiting allies of our enemies."

Nat and Steve just stare at me even the camera stares at me. "Anyway. They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own."

Steve looks angry and confused."HYDRA died with the Red Skull."

A picture of the HYDRA logo comes up on the screen then divides into two. "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place."

"Prove it." Steve practically growls at the computer.

"Accessing archive." The computer screen shows us old footage of Johann Schmidt/Red Skull, of the original SHIELD founders . "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist." Footage of protests and war fill the screen.  
"The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. " A picture of Zola helping around this office appears.  
"A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war."

"And when history did not cooperate, history was changed." Then a picture of the guy with the metal arm comes up. 

"It's him. The Winter Soldier." I point at the screen. He's part of HYDRA. I should've known.

"That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you."

"Accidents will happen." The computer screen shows us that HYDRA had killed Howard and Maria Stark making it look like a car accident along with the recent death of Fury. Officially everyone I was close to, was murdered by HYDRA 

"HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise." Footage of HYDRA soldiers appear as they chant "Hail HYDRA " 

"We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your Life; a zero sum." In anger Steve suddenly smashes the computer screen. Like if that was gonna change anything.

Another small screen turns on. "As I was saying... What's on this drive? Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm." Zola explains.

"What kind of algorithm?"  
"What does it do?" Both Nat and I ask simultaneously.

"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." Suddenly the doors start to close, Steve tries to stop it by throwing his shield in between it but he's too late.

I start thinking about Project insight and Zola's algorithm.  
I gasp in shock. "The helicarriers. They're gonna kill everyone."

"You were always a clever one. Raven. HYDRA will be proud" The creepy face on the screen smiles. What ? Why would they be proud of me after finding out their mass-murdering plan. And why did he say 'will be proud' if they're gonna blow me up in a few seconds.

Nat's face pales as she checks her device. "Guys we've got a missile heading our way. 30 seconds tops.

"What? who fired it?" I ask as I look for a way.  
"S.H.I.E.L.D"

I snap my head towards her incredulously, I twitch my eyes in anger. "Are you fucking kidding me !?! "

"Admit it, it's better this way. We're both of us...out of time." Steve notices a small opening on the ground, he throws the metal door aside and just as the place explodes he throws himself as I grab Natasha and pull her under me into the hole. Steve puts up his shield to protect us with it. I put up my arms to help him keep the shield up as I try to cover Nat as much as possible. 

After a few seconds I hear a very faint distant sound of engines.

"They're coming." I whisper to Steve as I help him push the shield so we can get out from under the building rubble.

"Nat. Nat!" I whisper-yell as I clear her face from her hair and all the dust.

"She's out. You take her and I'll keep us covered." Steve picks her up and I hold up the shield to keep us covered if we're attacked.

We run into the woods just as STRIKE agents arrive to roam the area for us.

"Were do we go now? Everyone's trying to kill us." Steve sighs.

"Not everyone. I know someone who might be able to help us." I hope Sam will help us or else we're completely screwed.

********

(3rd POV)

"Call in the asset." Rumlow tells his agents once he notices the footprints.

At his home, Pierce goes to his kitchen to get a drink when he notices the Winter Soldier sitting in the shadows behind him with his gun on the table. Then his housekeeper calls out. "I'm going to go, Mr. Pierce. Do you need anything before I leave?"

"No. Uh...it's fine, Renata, you can go home." Part of him felt slightly embarrassed when his housekeeper answered him. "Okay, night-night."

"Good night." 

"Want some milk?" He asks and the Winter Soldier doesn't reply 

"The timetable has moved. Our window is limited. Three targets, level six." He pours himself a glass of milk and goes over to join the Winter Soldier at the table.

"They already cost me Zola. I want confirmation of death in ten hours." He takes a sip of his milk and stares at the ceiling then back at the asset.

"The Raven. She's an exception, you can bring her either dead or alive." He knows she will most likely refuse to fight The Winter Soldier once she finds out who he really is.

If she finds out.

All he wants is to know how the assets will react to each other when she's his actual target. After all this time, HYDRA will finally get back the only success they've ever created other than The Winter Soldier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really though I was being slick and suspenseful back then. Angst was not even in my radar of knowledge.


	6. Falcon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam Wilson is the best.

"So whose house are we going to ?" Nat asks groggily as she rubs her eyes.

"He's a good friend of mine. I met him a few months ago." I met Sam a few months ago while I was out for a run and we started talking and I found out he helped veterans with PTSD, so he really helped me with my nightmares. Other than Natasha and Steve, he's the only other person I can open up to and feel comfortable with.

Steve stops and looks at the houses around us."Wait I know this place." He turns to me. "Are we going to Sam's place ?"

"Yeah,you know him ?" I keep walking ahead. It wouldn't surprise me that they already know each other because all three of us run around the same place every morning.

He nods. "I met him not long ago."  
"But how are you sure we can trust him ?" Nat asks me.

"Well for starters, he hates our government, and I think he was in the air force."

"Who doesn't hate this government ?" She snorts.

We walk up the steps and I hesitantly knock on the door's window. Sam opens the door and stares at us in shock. I don't blame him, we're completely dirty and part of my clothes are ripped.

"Hey Sam!" I greet him and he gives me a weird look. I sigh. "Look I'm sorry we had to do this, but we don't have anywhere else to go."

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us." Nat sighs.  
"Not everyone. Come on in." Sam ushers us in and puts down the blinds in every window.

All three of us step into the bathroom at the same time and both Nat and Steve grab a towel to clean themselves. "Unlike you guys, I'm taking a shower cause I sweat and bled through these clothes."

"You don't even have extra clothes."

"I left some here after I came a few times." I say as I pull out a backpack I hid in Sam's closet. That is my emergency backpack, it has clothes, first-aid kit, and a few weapons.

I turn back to them and they look a me smirking. "Guys I wasn't here like _that,_ I came because I needed his help for dealing with some personal stuff." I explain as I kick them out of the bathroom.

Even with the shower on, I can still hear them whispering.

"Personal stuff ?" Steve asks confused. "I guess it's about the nightmares she had after you guys came out of cryo." Nat whispers.

Can't they just mind their own business for once. The reason I didn't tell Steve was because I didn't want him to worry about me, he already had other important things to do.

"I suspected she had them but I never a actually knew. She never told me." Steve says sounding disappointed and a bit hurt.   
This is exactly what I didn't want to happen.

"She didn't want you to worry too much about her." Nat says.

"But she always worries about me. She was basically the one who got me everything I needed: my apartment, motorcycle, and she was the one who told me Peggy was still alive." He sighs. "She's always there to make sure I'm fine, yet I fail to be there for her."

Oh god, these feeling conversations are my weakness ,that's why always avoid them cause I always end up saying something stupid.

"What was she like back then ?" Nat asks in curiosity.

"She was really over-protective of Bucky and I ..." I can hear him smile before Nat interrupts him.  
"Who is this _Bucky_?" Her question makes my heart break all over again. I can tell the question caught Steve off-guard because he takes a while to answer.

"He was our bestfriend and we grew up together. He was a year older than us, and he also happened to be her boyfriend who later on became her fiancé. He was also part of the Howling Commandos." He says and I can hear both of their hearts falter. I never really told Nat why I didn't want to date anyone all I said was _" guys nowadays aren't really my type"_

"She never mentioned him or anything about being with someone. Steve oh my god ! why didn't you say something before I tried to get her to date people. God, I feel terrible now." I kind of want to laugh when I hear her smack his head.

"What happened to him after you guys went cryo ?" She asks in a hushed whisper. Oh god, they better finish their conversation before I get out of the shower cause I'm almost done.

Steve clears his throat and explains to her about the train accident we had when we tried to catch Zola.

"I've never seen her more broken than that night. All she did was drink, scream, and cry til' she passed out. I felt like part of us died along with him. Neither one of us was the same after that day." His voice waivers as he speaks and I can hear Nat's quiet gasps.

I shut off the shower and start dressing quickly. Once I'm out of the bathroom , Sam walks into the room. "I made breakfast if you guys want some."

This is the most glorious thing I've heard all week. "Is it pancakes ?" He gives me a toothy smile. "Blueberry. Your favorite."  
I throw my towel on Steve's head and hug Sam quickly before running off to the kitchen yelling. "I love you Sam! "  
Steve and Nat walk into the kitchen laughing. "You know Sam, I think you know me better than Stevie wonders over here." I say with a mouthful of pancakes. Steve scoffs."Please, I know your darkest and most embarrassing secrets."  
I point a finger at him. "Say a word and I'll star spangle beat the shi...."

"Alright, where's the chocolate milk ?" Nat interrupts me as she heads for the fridge.  
"Girls come on we just got here a few minutes ago, we shouldn't be taking advantage of his hospitality." Steve says as he snatches the chocolate milk gallon from Nat before she drinks out of it. He then gives her a cup so she can serve herself and she sticks her tongue out to him.

"Uh, actually I've been here more than once." I already know my way around this place since I always came here after all of my missions so that I could talk to Sam, which really helped me a lot.

"You okay?" I ask Nat after she suddenly goes quiet.  
Steve looks concerned. "What's going on?"

"When I first joined SHIELD, I thought I was going straight. But I guess I just traded in the KGB for HYDRA. I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but...I guess I can't tell the difference anymore." She says looking down ashamed then back up at us."I owe you."

Steve waves her off."It's okay."

"If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your life, and both of you be honest with me, would you trust me to do it?" She asks.

"I would now. And I'm always honest." Steve says smiling as he pours himself some coffee. I take a sip of my orange juice. "Woman I do that every time we go on a mission."

She smiles. "Well, you guys seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing."  
"Well, I guess I just like to know who I'm fighting." Steve answers.

"So, the question is: who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?" She asks getting back to the topic of our problems.  
Steve shrugs "Pierce, probably."  
Nat scoffs. "Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world."  
"And he most likely was the one to sent those officers to kill Fury. Not to mention every security camera was shut-off on SHIELD's orders." I add.

"But he's not working alone, Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star." I point out, remembering some stuff from that mission.

Nat snaps her fingers."So was Jasper Sitwell."

"Okay So, the real question is: how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?" I ask them.

Sam walks in. "The answer is: you don't." He drops a file in front of Steve.

The file says it's a military classified project called _Falcon_.

"What's this?" He asks before grabbing the file.  
"Call it a resume."

Natasha picks up a photo of Sam with his para-rescue team. "Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you." She asks.

She looks over to me."You didn't say he was a para-rescue."

"Well it's not like I know every detail of his life." I retort.

"Is this Riley?" Steve asks holding up a picture of Sam and his colleague.  
"Yeah." He answers and I can hear his heart falter a bit. It hurts to lose a really close friend when you know you could've probably saved them.

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?" Nat asks as we each struggle to look at the file at the same time.

"No. These." He hands me another file, I open it and read it.

I look at him confused and shocked. " Dude I thought you said you were a pilot."  
Sam smirks. "I never said a pilot."

Steve sighs. "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

Sam argues. "Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in."

"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" I ask him.  
"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall." He says.

Steve looks at Natasha and I and I shrug my shoulders. "I broken into worse places. Shouldn't be a problem."

********

So after we broke into Fort Meade to retrieve Sam's Falcon suit, we came up with a not-so-safe plan to _'kidnap'_ Sitwell.

My job in this plan is to drive Sitwell to the building were Nat and Steve will interrogate him.

So here I am, sitting in Sam's new car waiting for Sitwell to be done with his stupid meeting.   
"Is he almost done?" I ask letting out an irritated sigh.

"Well lucky you, he's out now." Sam replies through my earpiece. After that I wait for my signal.

"Because that tie looks really expensive, and I'd hate to mess it up." Sam threatens and I drive up to pick up Sitwell. That was my signal.

He gets in and I smirk at him before speeding off. "Try anything and I'll rip your throat out." I say as I flick out the claw/ talons from my gloves. Which hence, goes with the name Raven. They don't call me that for no reason.

We shortly arrive to the building and I drag him to an elevator leading up to the roof. "Here's a little tip, don't piss her off."

He looks at me confused and terrified. "Don't Piss-off who ?"

I kick the door open. "Her." And Nat drags him towards Steve.

I stand back and watch things play out between them before Nat kicks him off of the building. Which ends up with Sam flying him back up with his Falcon suit.

Sam walks over to me. "Dude I gotta get me some of those."  
"There can only be one Falcon." He smirks

"Zola's algorithm is a program...for choosing Insight's targets!" Sitwell says cowering in front of us.

"What targets?" Steve yells.

"You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa city. Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future." Sitwell stares at me the whole time he lists the threats

"The Future? How could it know?" Steve looks confused.

Sitwell laughs. "How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it."  
Steve and Natasha look at him in confusion.

"Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores." I scoff at that. "Zola's algorithm evaluates peoples' past to predict their future."

"And what then?" I ask afraid that my theory was correct.

Sitwell looks down now terrified more than ever. "Oh, my God. Pierce is gonna kill me."

Steve grabs him by his collar. "What then?!"

"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few millions at a time." He answers.

Nat turns to me shocked. "You were right."

"How did you know ?" Sitwell asks me intrigued. Although it looks like he knows why.

"I always figure things out."


	7. Ghost

"HYDRA doesn't like leaks." Sitwell says as he sits awkwardly between Nat and I in the backseat, which we barely fit in.  
"So why don't you try sticking a cork in it." Sam retorts.

Nat hands me her device. "Insight's launching in sixteen hours, we're cutting it a little bit close here."

I nod over at Sitwell. "We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the Helicarriers directly. Then we'll kill him." At that last part everyone stares at me.

"What? He's always giving me an attitude."

"What?! Are you crazy? That is a terrible, terrible idea." Sitwell yells.

"To use you or kill you ?" I ask him.

"Both !" He yells.

Suddenly something lands on the car roof and a metal arm appears not even an inch away from my face. "Holy shit !" I yell and they pull Sitwell out through the window and throw him into the oncoming traffic, killing him.

"Winter soldier" I whisper when I see his reflection on the car next to us.

I hear him pull out a gun and he then starts shooting at us and I reach over to the front just as Nat jumps on Steve's lap and I pull the brake handle making the Winter Soldier fall down and slide onto the street.

As we stare at him, Nat and I pull out our guns ready to shoot at him but another car smashes into the ours and pushes us along, crushing the entire backseat which leaves me with no option but to jump onto Sam's lap.

The Winter Soldier jumps back onto our car, smashes through the windscreen and pulls out the steering wheel just a few inches from my face, again so close with the face.

"Shit!" Sam gasps. Now we're helpless in this car, not to mention it's his new car. What good is a car with no steering wheel?

Steve looks at me and yells. "Hang on!" I push Sam towards Steve and just as Steve breaks open the door, The Winter Soldier grips my neck and yanks me towards him. He pulls us away from the car before it crashes down on us and I instinctively hold onto him even though he's choking me with his metal arm.

As Steve holds onto Natasha and Sam, he calls out to me as they slide on the car door through the street while the winter soldier and I roll down the street.

And not once does he let go of me.

Once we stop, he ends up on top of me and I struggle pry-off his metal arm from my neck. "If you wanted another date, all you had to do was ask." I choke out as I try to get some air.

Nat starts shooting at him and I take my chance to flip us over. He pulls out a gun to shoot me and I hold up my arm when I see Steve throwing me his shield and I catch it just in time as the winter soldier starts shooting at me.

After Nat finds more bullets for her gun, she starts shooting again, making the winter soldier turn around ready to throw a bomb at them so I throw Steve his shield and he pushes Nat out of the way before he deflects the bomb which throws him over the bridge crashing somewhere in the the streets below us. That's gotta hurt.

While that was happening, I ran over to Nat and pulled her away just as the Winter Soldier is joined by HYDRA agents and they begin shooting at us.

The three of us scatter and run off in different directions with the Winter Soldier shooting at Nat and I . Just as another bomb is thrown, I grab Nat and we jump off just as the car behind us explodes.

"Oh god, my knees." I gasp at the slight pain radiating through my legs once I land on the hard pavement. I need to stop doing these landings, it doesn't hurt when it's just me but it hurts if I'm carrying someone.

"You know you didn't have to do that." She says as she shows me her gadgets. "I was in the moment and I didn't even know you had those right now."

We stop running when we see the shadow of the winter soldier standing with his gun ready to shoot Steve. "Shoot him and I'll go get the shield and Steve then you leave." I tell Nat and she nods before whispering. "Be careful."

"Always am." I dash straight to the shield first then I run to the flipped-over bus to get Steve out.

"Come on kid we don't have all day." I pull him out of the bus.  
"Kid? I'm older than you." He says a bit dazed. I scoff at him. "Just by a few days."

From the corner of my eye I see Natasha sprinting down the street away from us. "I'll go get her. You get Sam." We nod and we take off in different directions.

I turn around and see the winter soldier telling orders to the other HYDRA agents before jumping down onto a car and practically strutting towards me. I turn away from the direction where Natasha went, at least one of us needs to get out alive.

Apparently Nat wasn't going to obey me because I bump into her when I turn down another street. "Are you kidding me! I told you to leave." I whisper-yell at her. "Did you really think I was going to leave you behind?" She rolls her eyes.

"Make a distraction." I tell her and she pulls out her phone to make a recording of her calling.

We both hide behind some cars and wait for the winter soldier. When he gets here he crouches down behind a car and rolls a bomb under it towards Nat's hidden phone.

"...make an LZ, twenty-three hundred block at Virginia Avenue. Rendezvous two minutes." As the bomb explodes Natasha jumps onto the Winter Soldier's back and tries to choke him with one of her wires while I kick his legs from under him.

As he falls to his knees he manages to throw Nat off of him and I kick him away from us. She starts running off and I follow after her. "Give me your small explosives. Now!" She hands them to me as she screams to people to get out of the way. Just as the small explosives land on my hand, she gets shot. I grab her and carry her behind a car and I immediately give her an anesthetic injection that is hidden in a charm on my bracelet. "It's not enough for a bullet wound, but it's enough to subside the pain for a few minutes. Stay down, please." I tell her sternly and she nods.

I run back to were the winter soldier is and I find him a bit too quickly cause his gun touches my forehead for a slight second. "Hi." I awkwardly say before punching his arm with the gun away from me then I punch him in his face. I just realized he's not wearing his goggles.

He pulls out a knife and swipes at my face. "Seriously, what's with the face attacks ?" I grab his arm and turn around to elbow him in the face. He immediately twists me around so I'm face-to-face with him as I try to keep the knife away from me. "Wow you have such beautiful eyes." I breathe out and he growls at me.

We're close enough to a car so I use it to kick my legs upwards and wrap them around him to make him fall down. I fall on my butt and he only falls on his knees, I throw my arms back to lift me up and kick him hard on the chest causing him to smash against a car.

I throw the small explosives and roll out of the way. Once the explosion goes off I can still hear him moving. "Still alive baby!?" I call out and I see his silhouette through the smoke. "Ah shit." I mutter under my breath once I realize I'm out of weapons.

Thankfully Steve shows up and the winter soldier pulls out yet another gun to shoot him but Steve deflects every shot with his shield. He goes to punch Steve but he puts up his shield and it makes a loud bang when his metal arm makes contact with the vibranium shield.

They keep on fighting as I try to focus on getting rid of the dark spots in my vision and the ear ringing that at some point he gets the shield away from Steve and uses it to block a few hits before throwing it at Steve nearly decapitating him. I laugh internally at my own little pun, get it, de-CAP-itating, no, okay.

I jump on his back but he immediately throws me against a van and darts straight at my head with his knife. I move away just in time as the knife makes contact with the van and I grab his arm as he swipes it across the van.

I kick him in the abdomen and he doesn't move much. Steve comes and pushes him away from me but he ends up landing under the winter soldier and before Steve gets shot in the face I once again jump on the winter soldier's back.

He gets up and grips my left shoulder really tight with his metal arm and it makes a few crushing noises. I grip his mask as he throws me on the ground away from him but I pull him down along with me and we both roll down onto the ground.

As I roll away from him towards Steve, I notice his mask on the ground. Time to see who the Winter Soldier really is.

His back is to us and he slowly turns and glares at me.

**AN:** __ _(_ _For those confused about Loki, there is_ **_no_ ** _prequel to this book)_

My heart stops right then and Loki's words come back to me.

_"He's a ghost."_

_"I don't believe in ghosts."_

_"You will soon enough."_

Loki was right.

It's not possible. I saw him fall to his death.

But he's here.

He's alive.

"Bucky?" Steve and I gasp out loud at the same time.

He stares at us confused and angry. "Who the hell is Bucky ?"

I'm too shocked to even move away when he points his gun at me. He looks at me straight in the eye and then back at the ground as if he were considering or something.

Suddenly he gets knocked over by Sam in his Falcon suit and Nat fires a bomb at the incoming HYDRA agents.

In the midst of this chaos Bucky disappears.

I hear sirens and soon we are surrounded by HYDRA agents being led by Rumlow."Drop the shield, Captain! On your knees! Get on your knees! Now! Get down! Get down!" Rumlow yells.

But everything sounds as if I were underwater, it's like part of me is aware of what's going on and the other part is a confused heartbroken teenager in a daze.

Steve and I hold our hands up. "Get on your knees! Down!"  
He kicks my leg forcing me to kneel and he does the same to Steve.

"Don't move." Rumlow looks at the helicopter flying above us and warns the agents holding Steve and I at gunpoint. "Put the gun down. Not here. Not here!" The agent lowers his gun, and the other HYDRA agents then take Steve, Sam, Natasha and I into custody as we are being escorted into a van.

I think of nothing else but one thing.  
  


He's alive.


	8. Chapter 8

"The man and the woman on the bridge.....Who were they ?" The asset asks. He knew the woman looked familiar but he couldn't recall where he had seen her before other than earlier this week. Maybe in a previous mission, but either way how could he remember her if his memory was wiped after every mission ?

For a moment Pierce is caught off guard with the question but immediately shakes it off. "You met them on another assignment earlier this week." Pierce sighs hoping that being around Raven any longer won't trigger any memories for the asset or else HYDRA will be running on some big problems if they lose him to her.

Pierce drags a stool and takes a seat in front of the asset. "Your work has been a gift to mankind. You shaped this century, and I need you to do it one more time. Society is at a tipping point between order and chaos. Tomorrow morning we're gonna give it a push. But if you don't do your part, I can't do mine, and HYDRA can't give the world the freedom it deserves." After fighting with The Raven, seeing how she didn't feel restricted when fighting him, deep down The Winter Soldier realized Pierce's words were just plain bullshit.

"But I knew them." The asset mutters, not making eye contact with anyone.

"I knew her." He whispers as he looks down.

At first he was confused as to why he couldn't bring himself to kill her. He knew he kept the fight going so that he could make a decision on whether to kill her or to bring her in alive like he was given the option to do.

If he brought her alive then HYDRA will most likely experiment on her and most likely torture her worse than they did to him and the other assets. And if he brought her in dead, he'd be doing her a favor.

All this confusion cleared for a moment when he heard her call him _"Bucky"._ As soon as he heard the name he felt like he had found something he had lost long ago but couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was. And the look on her face was mixed with emotions : shock, happiness, sadness, and most of all, she looked heartbroken when he said he didn't know who they were talking about.

She was talking about _him_ _._

Pierce sees the hesitation in the asset's eyes. "Prep him."

One of the scientists speaks up. "He's been out of cryo-freeze too long." Pierce sighs in frustration. "Then wipe him and start over."

The scientists strap him in his chair and then place a teeth shield in his mouth as they prepare the process of wiping his brain.

He starts shaking and breathing heavily in anticipation of the pain. But mostly with the fear of being unable to hold on to that brief small memory of the woman calling him _Bucky._

She still remembers _him._

And he couldn't remember _her._

********

Once we get in the van the break-proof cuffs are placed on our hands and feet.

Steve is the first one to break the tense silence. "It was him." He mutters.  
"He looked right at us and he didn't even know us" I sigh and my voice waivers.

Sam looks at us confused. "How's that even possible? It was like seventy years ago."

I lift my head up and look at Steve."Zola."

Sam looks at us for further explanation. "Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43."  
I continue for Steve. "Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did, it helped Bucky survive the fall."

For a while I hoped that he'd had an instant death, but as it turns out, he survived which means he must've suffered all of the pain from it.

"They must have found him." Steve says and I can hear the slight pain in his voice.

"None of that's your fault, guys." Nat tries to console us.

"I could've saved him." Both Steve and I say at the same time.

I still had nightmares of that night. I remember arriving to their train car just as Bucky fell and I only had time to catch Steve before he also fell to his death.

I let out a shaky breath. "Even when we had nothing, we had Bucky." For a moment Steve moves to hug me but then remembers he has the cuffs on.

Sam notices Natasha is bleeding from her shoulder and looks at the guards next to us. "We need to get a doctor here. We don't put pressure on that wound she's gonna bleed out here in the truck." Suddenly one of the guards pulls out an electric rod and neutralizes the other guard and knocks him out, the guard takes off their helmet revealing Agent Hill.

She grunts as she fixes her hair. "That thing was squeezing my brain." Sam looks at her in confusion. Hill turns to me. "Who's this guy?"

"It's about damn time you showed up." I sigh at the relief she actually made it in time and I hold up my cuffed hands so she can release me.

Nat looks at us shocked when Hill starts to release all of us. "Okay,What?"

"Uh..I called her back when we were waiting for Sitwell." I tell her and she looks at me shocked. "Why didn't you tell us ?"

"I didn't need to boost your cockiness since you already know you're most likely to win a fight." She rolls her eyes at me.

Hill pulls out a laser and tosses it to me. "Get to work girl." She says as she goes to unlock Sam and I start carving a whole with the laser.

I'm done in less than a minute. I wipe my hands to get rid of the metal residue. "Okay. Who's going first ?" I ask and they all stare at me. Seriously, I'm emotionally unstable right now and they still expect me to jump first.

I stare at the down at the fast passing road underneath us. "Unbelievable. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves." They all just raise their eyebrows at me.

I crouch down ready to jump and I smirk at them before jumping off.

"See you on the other side."


	9. Trust

"You better have my suit in there or else hell is gonna break lose because I'm not fighting in these dirty clothes." I say to Hill as I wipe away dirt from my jacket.

"Relax Raven, I got everything you asked me to get." She snorts as she opens the gate so we can go into an abandoned dam.

She calls out to the doctor running towards us. "GSW. She's lost at least a pint."  
"Maybe two." Sam adds as he helps Nat walk. The doctor signals us to bring her forward. "Let me take her!"

Hill turns to us smirking. "She'll want to see him first." Hill then takes us to a room covered in plastic curtains only to see Fury who's alive and lying in bed and we all look at him in shock.

Nick lifts his head to look at us. "About damn time."   
The doctor pulls out a few things to treat Natasha's wound.

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of a headache." Fury lists out all of his injuries like if he were talking about the weather.

The doctor butts in. "Don't forget your collapsed lung."

"Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good." Nick corrects himself. Some people have told me that Fury has been rubbing-off on me lately.

Natasha looks at him ."They cut you open, your heart stopped."

I tap my ear."And I didn't hear anything." I add.

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it." He explains.

Steve looks around the room. "Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?"

Hill turns to us. "Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful."  
She looks at me. "You being there was the riskier part yet the one who would make the death believable."

"Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust." He says looking at me. "Well then, I guess you can't trust someone who nearly got killed twice while trying to save you." I smile sweetly at him because I know he hates it when I do that and he just shrugs his shoulders.

Hill and the doctor help Fury get to the table near us so we can talk about our recent discoveries.

He pulls put some files and a few brief cases he holds up a photo of Pierce. "This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said, " _Peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility_." See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

I sigh. "We have to stop the launch in any way we can as soon as possible."  
Nick looks over to me. "I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore." He opens a case containing three chips.

Sam goes to stand next to me. "What's that?"

"Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized." Hill explains as she shows us the helicarriers through the computer screen

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own." Fury says as he holds one of them up.

"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational a whole lot of people are gonna die." Hill says and I internally groan. Seriously I'm only 70 years in cryo and the world goes to shit with their freedom and protection.

Nick looks at each of us as he speaks."We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We need to get pass them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left..."

At that last part Steve immediately cuts him off. "We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we're taking down SHIELD."

Nick looks at us surprised that we're willing to take down SHIELD, the place created after us by our friends.  
"SHIELD had nothing to do with it."

"You gave me this mission, this is how it ends. SHIELD's been compromised, you've said so yourself." Steve argues.

I nod in agreement. "HYDRA was right under your nose and nobody noticed."

Fury slightly glares at us both. "Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed."

"And how many paid the price before you did?" Steve says.

Nick finally looks at us defeated. "Look, I didn't know about Barnes." He says looking at me.

At that I sit up staight and look him in the eye. "Even if you have, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that too? SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes." I hear his heart skip a beat. Just like I thought, he was going to lie to me about Bucky. I get up and walk away. And here I thought I could actually trust him. I guess he's right, you can't trust anyone.

********

I walk outside and stand on the brigde next to Steve and we just stand there in silence staring at the water passing by.

_(Flashback)_

_"Catch me if you can!" I call out to Bucky as he struggles to catch up to me with little Steve only a few feet behind me. I let out a small giggle as my pearly white dress is splattered with the muddy water._

_Soon enough I arrive to an alley only to find a newly installed fence. So being the little rebel that I am, I start climbing the fence and just as I'm near the top, my dress gets stuck and suddenly everything is upside down._

_"Bucky! Steve!" I yell in panic._

_"Merly!" They both yell and Steve takes a glance at my leg and looks as if he's going to pass out._   
_"You're bleeding." He shrieks in panic_ _and Bucky has a fearful look on his face._

_"Help me get down."_

_Bucky immediately snaps out of his daze runs to my side and tries to rip-off the end of the dress. "God Merly! what is this dress made of." He says once he realizes he's not strong enough to rip the dress material and I can tell he's panicking more than me. He's just an 11 year old boy_ _he shouldn't be worrying so much about me._

_"Wait I have something." Steve mutters and pulls out a small pocket knife. Bucky and I stare at him in shock. A 10 year old boy shouldn't be carrying that around._

_"You cut it off and I'll catch her." Bucky says as tightly he puts his arms around me._

_Since Steve is shortest one, he has to climb in order to reach the end of my dress._

_"Please don't drop me Bucky" I tell to him._

_He turns and places a small kiss on the side of my head._   
_"I've got you and promise I won't let you fall." He whispers back._

_"I won't let go." He says and I immediately fall on to him as soon as Steve cuts my dress._

_Bucky then moves to check my leg. "It's a small cut. I can help you fix it."_

_"It's okay, it was my fault so I should take care of it on my own." I tell him as I try to get up but my leg stings a little._

_"You don't have to. Remember? I'm with you no matter what." He says helping me walk._

_Steve and Bucky stand on either side of me as we walk back to my house. I can actually see the top of their heads cause I'm slightly taller than both of them and it bothers Bucky a lot that 10 year old girl is taller and faster than him._

_I let out a groan. "My parents are gonna kill me."_

_Steve pats my shoulder and smiles."Then we'll go down together."_

_Bucky nods in agreement._

_"We're with you til the end of the line."_

_(Flashback Over)_

A few minutes later Sam comes up to us. "He's gonna be there, you know?"

Steve sighs and although my back is to them I can tell both of their eyes are on me.  
"I know."

Sam sighs and stands closer to me. "Look, whoever he used to be, the guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save. He's the kind you stop."

"We can try to save him."Steve says a bit offended at Sam's words about not being able to save Bucky.

I turn to them. "You know I won't be able to stop him."

Sam crosses his arms. "Well, he might not give you a choice. He doesn't know you."

Steve pats my shoulder. "He will. Gear up, it's time." He says and turns and starts to walk off.

Sam points to his outfit. "You gonna wear that?"

Steve turns to us as he keeps walking backwards. "No. If you're gonna fight a war, you gotta wear a uniform."

He's probably gonna go take the Captain America WWII uniform at the Smithsonian Museum in Captain America exhibit. But I'm not going to get my old suit, which happens to be between Steve and Bucky's dummy-suits.

I prefer my new suit cause it allows me to move more and I don't sweat as much in it. And it looks way cooler.

"Where is he going ?" Sam nods towards Steve confused.

"He's gonna go steal his suit."

********

"Ready to go ?" Nat asks me as she walks up behind me to look in the mirror. Even with her heels on, I'm still taller than her.

"Do I have a choice ?" I retort as I fix the gun straps in my suit. Nat pushes me down onto a chair and starts braiding my hair since it's really long and a ponytail won't keep it up during a fight.

"Is that why you always jump without a parachute?" She asks breaking the silence. I take a while to answer. I mean I do know what she's talking about.

"When I woke up after being in the ice for 70 years, one of my first thoughts after freaking out, was that if I survived a plane crash in the Artic Ice then maybe I could've survived if I had jumped after Bucky."

I sigh."So I guess I wanted to feel what he felt."   
"Why didn't you ever tell me about him ?" She asks.

"What good would it have done? It's not like it was going to bring him back."

"It helps to release emotions, feelings, tension." She shrugs as she keeps on braiding.

"That's why I fight."

She pulls my hair, and I know she did it on purpose to provoke me. "You can't fix things with a fight." She sighs.

"I found out he was alive while I was fighting him." I shrug my shoulders.

She ties my braid and pulls me up to give me a hug and says.

"So end the fight and bring him back."

I'm bringing him back.  
  


I'm getting my _Bucky_ back. 


	10. Insight

"God, I'm gonna be tired by the time we get to the Triskelion." I huff as we step over some thick humid tree roots.

Agent Hill rolls her eyes."You'll be fine."

After a few minutes we finally arrive to the Triskelion. "You sure about this ? He'll be here." Sam says quietly next to me.

I nod and give him a small shrug. "Yeah, I mean we all like bad boys don't we."

Sam snaps his head towards   
me incredulously. "He's a freakin' assasin. Merly it's not the same thing."

I shrug my shoulders mindlessly. "He's still my type."

"You've got some problems."Sam scoffs.

"Yeah tell me about it." I enjoy being around Sam because he's like an older brother to me.

"Ready?" Cap turns to us and we each give him a small nod.  
Agent Hill then interrupts the communication systems and just like we hoped, a tech guy comes and opens the door.

I point my gun at his face. "Hi."

(AN: I meant to write "point" but it looked too hilarious to correct. Enjoy!)

He immediately puts his hands up and steps aside signaling us in towards the control room.

I stand next to Steve as he gives his speech about HYDRA being inside SHIELD and their plan to use Project Insight to kill millions of people and why we need to stop them.

Sam smiles at Steve proudly. "Did you write that down or was it off the top of your head ?"

"He's very patriotic. It's in his DNA." I tell him and Steve slightly shoves my shoulder as Sam chuckles.

Hill hands each one of us a chip."Here are the overriding target blades."

"Lets go." Steve motions us towards the door that leads to the Helicarriers's garage.

Alarms start to go off. "Shit! They initiated the launch. We need to go to the top Now, Go!" I hurriedly push them back and we start running outside.

Two Helicarriers have already managed to get in the air. "Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys ?" Sam asks.

"If they're shooting at you, they're bad." Steve answers.

"Sam can you give me a lift?" I ask as I run next to him.

"It would be an honor Ms.Raven" He picks me up and we take off but soon enough we start getting shot at by a few agents below us which thankfully get taken down by Steve.

"Woman, you are heavier than you look." Sam mutters and I can barely hear him through the loud wind blowing.

"Well it's your fault for making so many pancakes." I yell through the loud sound of the turbines.

"Okay, Now!" I signal Sam and he drops me onto the Helicarrier designated to me.

I bend my knees slightly then roll on the ship's hard pavement once I land, soon enough HYDRA agents start pooling out of the entrance.

"Hey would you look at that, I found those bad guys you were talking about." I tell Steve through my ear communication piece.

"You alright ?" He asks.

"Yeah." I tell him as I jump behind a cargo container.

I take out a smoke bomb and throw it behind at the agents coming my way.

As soon as our area is covered in blinding smoke I start shooting at every moving body that is at the end of my gun's light-laser.

When I don't hear any heartbeats I go over to the dead agents and snatch some guns and a few grenades from them.

As I'm strapping some of the guns to my belt, I hear the smooth clink of a gun and I immediately duck and roll away just as a bullet hits the container exactly were my head was just a second ago.

I begin shooting at everyone as I dodge bullets while running behind the containers.

I throw a grenade near the entrance and once it goes off I dash straight into the Helicarrier only to be met by another dozen guns pointed at my face.

"Oh shit!" Seriously I had no idea this ship was going to be full of HYDRA agents.

I throw my second grenade and jump to the railings across from us.

Only half of the agents go down and the other six scramble to get back up.

I throw my knife at the one already standing up and I pull out a wire and wrap it around the other guy's neck and use him to support my body as I swing my legs to kick another one over the railings.

I flip myself behind the guy I was choking with the wire and I put him in front of me to block the bullets being fired at me as I pull his gun and fire at the remaining agents.

I run to the door only to be met by three other agents in the cold gray empty hall. "Oh come on!" I groan. I grab a nearby pipe and swing it around to knock the guns out of their hands. One of them grabs the end of the pipe and I push it back towards his face, knocking him out. I pull my arm back and elbow a guy in the face and swing the pipe at the third guy's head.

The pipe ends up covered in blood. "That's just absolutely gross, you guys have no respect for maintenance."

"Alpha locked." I hear Steve's voice over my earpiece. What!? He's already done, I'm not even close to the panel yet.

"Falcon, where are you now?" Hill asks. "I had to take a detour!" I hear Sam yell back. Well at least I'm not the only one who isn't done yet.

"Raven what's your status?" Hill then asks me.

"Single." I answer as I run down a few hallways while shooting down a few guards.

"Seriously." Hill sighs.

"Did you have to give me the ship full of HYDRA agents?" I hiss at her.

"Merly I'm coming your way." Steve says. "No! it's ok I got this." I hurriedly answer.

"Falcon, status?" Steve asks this time. "Engaging. " Sam answers.

"Alright, Cap, I'm in." Sam reports back a few seconds later.

"Eight minutes, Raven." Hill notifies me. "I'm Working on it." I breathe out.  
Suddenly a small grenade appears in front of my feet. I kick it backwards to were it came from and run to hall adjacent to me. "Bravo locked." Sam reports.

Great, now I'm the only one left. "Two down, one to go." Hill updates us.

********  
(3rd POV Back at the Triskelion)

Councilman Rockwell looks at Natasha who is on the computer. "What are you doing?"

Pierce smirks because he knows her plan won't exactly work without some backfiring. "She's disabling security protocols and dumping all the secrets onto the Internet."

Natasha looks him in the eye defiantly. "Including HYDRA's."

Pierce gives her a smug look. "And SHIELD's. If you do this, none of your past is gonna remain hidden."

Natasha continues typing into the computer. "Are you sure you're ready for the world to see you as you really are?" Pierce continues.

"Are you?" She simply retorts.

"I don't think the world is ready to hadle an unfortunate truth about one of their mightiest heroes." He smirks.

"Your identity won't be the only thing you'll need to worry about." Pierce teases as he looks out the window to see the chaos Captain America, Falcon, and The Raven have caused.

Natasha looks at him in confusion, she is the only former assassin working for SHIELD, who else does she need to worry about ?

*******

(Raven POV)

I let out a groan as even more agents come out of another door and alarms start going off. I jump behind some conveniently placed crates in the hallway and I begin firing at the agents. Where are all these agents coming from? Is this some sort of magic pregnant Helicarrier?

"Sam I'm gonna need a lift." I hear Steve yell over my earpiece.  
"No Don't!" I yell at them but neither one of the actually pay attention to me. "Tell me when you're ready." Sam replies.

Just as I'm about to get up I notice a gas pipe and I start swiping my metal claws over it a few times before completely ripping it off, I do a backflip and in the process I kick the crates at the agents then I run away just before throwing a lighter.

The explosion sends me flying away through a few walls before land near the target panel. I scramble to get back up as I wipe some metal pieces from my suit and spit some dust that managed to get into my mouth.

I get up and swing over to the railings below me that go towards the panel.  
"Raven he's here." Steve warns me. "What !?" It looks like he warned a little too late because suddenly I'm pushed off the railings.

I let out some grunts when I land on the windows and for a moment I freak out because I thought I was going to fall right through.

A pair of black combat boots land a few feet away from me immediately I roll over on the smooth surface of the windows to get back up and I just stay in a ready to attack position but I end up retracting my metal claws when I see who my attacker is but I still leave a hand lingering over my gun. I'll only shoot to disable, not to kill.

He gives me a cold menacing look. "Bucky." I greet sternly as we stare each other down.

I know we're having an intense intimidating moment but I can feel all those butterflies, well more like a zoo in the pit if my stomach like back when I was a teenager having a thing for Bucky.

Soon my little moment is cut short when he pulls out a gun and we both fire at the same time.


	11. войны и солдаты

The two bullets collide.

Well I'll be damned, I didn't even know that was even possible.

I snap out of my awestruck moment and do a flip, kicking the gun out of Bucky's hand with my right leg then kicking him in the face with my left leg.

It kills me to even have to hit his perfect face. That should be a sin that sends me to the lowest circle of hell.

I throw an electroshock disc at his metal arm and I make a run for the target control panel. I jump onto the curved beam and try to crawl my way up without slipping back down.

Just as I'm about to jump to the railings above me, Bucky shoots a wire and wraps it around my leg, he tugs it forcefully causing me to smack face first onto the metal surface.

The screeching of my claws against the metal is the only sound other than my quiet grunts. I keep on digging my claws but Bucky is way too strong that I literally feel my knee ready to pop out.

I let go due to the fact I don't want my leg dislocated. I flip onto my back before falling onto the glass below me.

I cut the wire and pull it before he can reach for his gun. He stumbles forward and I run to jump on his back and wrap my legs around him.

With each of my legs I try to hold down his arms while I try to choke him only to make him pass out temporarily.

What you didn't seriously think I was going to easily end his life ? Hell no, I just got him back, assassin or not I'm still keeping him even if I have to chain him up. Okay maybe chaining him up is a bit too much.

Anyways just as I expected, he manages to get his left arm free and reaches back to grab me. His cold metal arm grazes the back of my thigh, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Whoa there Bucky, not here." I let out a dry laugh as we both writhe on the windows. Once his hand reaches my belt I realize what he's doing, he's getting the target blade from me. Without thinking I reach to stop him and he takes the advantage to escape my grip. Clever little punk.

"Three minutes." Hill startles me. Oh crap!

Unfortunately the target blade slips from my pocket and lands a few windows away from us. We both run for it, well I run for it while Bucky runs for me.

He pulls out a knife and swings it at my head, I duck down and reach to hold his hand to prevent him from stabbing me.

"Please! You know I can't let you do this!" I yell to him as I look him in the eyes. I'm basically using most of my strength on his left arm, his metal arm parts start to move as he pushes the knife closer to me. "Oh, in any other moment that would've been such a turn on."

_(Sorry, I just had to see it.)_

He ignores me and punches me hard in the stomach, I let out a small grunt and lose my posture. I'm pretty sure he broke some ribs. He takes advantage of the angle that I'm at and pushes the knife into my right shoulder.

I let out a muffled pained hiss. "I'm sorry for this." I mutter to him and kick him in his Bucky jr.

And to think at some point he told me he wanted kids someday. Let's just hope I didn't hit him too hard.

I pull out the knife, which thankfully didn't go in too deep and throw it as far as possible.

He gets back up and swings his left arm, I grab it and use it to hold my body up as I jump and kick him with my left leg then I flip and throw my right leg so that his head is in between the lower part of my legs.

I swing to his other side at take us both down. He reaches over and grabs the target blade. Dammit.

I kick him in the face when he turns around. "Sorry sweetheart but that doesn't belong to you."

We both get back up and continue fighting, which consisted of a lot of kicks, blocking punches, and chasing the target blade. "One minute." Hill urgently notifies me as I struggle to block Bucky's punches. Damn he's a good fighter.

_(Imagine their fight somewhat like this.)_

"Merly!" Steve's voice distracts me and I end up taking a punch to the face by Bucky's metal arm. Today is really not my day.

"Get the target blade!" I yell to him. "No, I'll hold him off, you get the blade." He answers as he blocks Bucky's metal arm with his shield, making a loud ring. Now that I think about it, it kind of sounds like a church bell.

I grab the target blade and run to the target control panel. I hear shots being fired behind me, most of them are stopped by Steve's shield. "Those bullets better not get to me." I mutter as I try to catch my breath.

A bullet grazes my thigh. "Spoke too soon." I mumble as I limp to the panel. I punch in the code and remove the original blade and just as I'm about to switch them, a flicker of burning pain shoots through my lower left side.

"Steve! what the hell?!" I yell to him, I thought he was supposed to be stopping Bucky, not aiming for him to me. "Sorry." He yells back.

I lean on the panel to keep my self up and I successfully switch the target blades. "Charlie locked." I report to Agent Hill. "Okay. Now get out of there!" She answers urgently.

"Fire now!" Steve calls out to me.

For a moment I hesitate as I put pressure on my wound. "Raven!" Steve yells again.

"Fire now." I tell Agent Hill.

"But Raven..." She starts to talk but I stop her. "Do it. Do it now." I urge her.

A few seconds later the Helicarriers start firing at one another. One of the blasts hits exactly near us shaking the entire Helicarrier and things start to tumble down. A few pained grunts come from under me and I crawl over to see what happened to my boys.

Steve is out cold and Bucky is stuck underneath a beam.

Panic starts to taking over me and I feel like I might have a heart attack just seeing them like this. How in the holy hell am I supposed to get the three of us out of here? I'm injured, Steve is knocked out, and Bucky is probably still trying to kill me. Thor better be sending me a blessing or something to get out of here.

********

_(Back at the Triskelion 3rd POV)_

Natasha clicks on a few more things before smirking "Done." She looks at her mobile device. "And it's trending."

Just then Pierce sets off the pins he gave the council members, causing it to burn deeply into their sternum, Natasha and Fury point their guns at Pierce.

Pierce looks over to Natasha. "Unless you want two inch hole in your sternum, I'd put that gun down." Natasha doesn't back down. Pierce gives her a smug look. "That was armed the moment you pinned it on."  
Fury and Natasha reluctantly lower their weapons.

Pierce watches the Helicarriers as they are firing at each other. "What a waste." He tsks.

Natasha scoffs at him. "Are you still on the fence about Roger's chances?"

Pierce smirks. "Rogers isn't my concern. It's the other two time bombs in there with him."

"Raven can take down the Winter Soldier on her own." Fury says in a defensive voice. Over the short time he has spent around her, he has learned to trust her and has become a little overprotective of her.

"She can. But we all know she won't." Pierce answers. Part of him feels like telling them the truth about her and laugh at their faces but the other part is telling him to save the news as a surprise for when HYDRA rises once again.

"Time to go, Councilwoman. This way, come on. You're gonna fly me out of here." Pierce starts to leave with Natasha.

"There was a time I would've taken a bullet for you." Fury states. "You already did." Pierce turns to him with a smug look.

Just then Natasha activates one of her electroshock discs to reboot her deadly pin which gives fury the chance to shoot Pierce twice.

Fury walks over to the unconscious Black Widow. "Romanoff! Natasha, Natasha !" He says as he tries to shake her awake.

"Oww, those really do sting." She mutters. "Let's go." Fury helps her up. "Why do you think Pierce was so infatuated with Raven?" She asks Fury as they get on the helicopter.

"Not really sure, maybe because she's practically a living mystery. Her biological information is strictly limited, and the reason for her abilities is still unknown." Fury answers.

"So did he want to make someone like her?" She asks thinking of all the possibilities of why Raven was always Pierce's favorite. Her and Steve obviously hated HYDRA more than anyone else, So why praise her?

"Woman I don't know. You should've asked the motherfucker before I put two bullets in him." Fury retorts and Natasha just shrugs.

********

Once Raven gets to them she first drags the unconscious Steve away from anything that might fall on him. She then goes to help Bucky out by trying to lift the beam but that only causes more pain on her injuries. She lays down and starts pushing the beam with her legs as she holds back some tears from physical pain and for fearing of not being capable of saving her bestfriends.

Bucky looks at her and feels a mix of too many emotions  
Nobody has ever voluntarily helped him, especially not his targets.

Raven gets back up and looks at Bucky. "You know me." Bucky lashes out at her in anger.

"Bucky, you've known _us_ your whole life." Bucky grabs her by the throat with his metal arm but she chooses not to fight back.

"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes." She breathes out but Bucky's grip on her tightens. "Shut up!" He yells in anger.

Raven takes off her gloves and throws them away as her silver ring glows with a stray ray of sunlight. "I'm not gonna fight you."

Bucky slams her to the ground. "You're my mission." He then mercilessly slams her again against the glass pane beneath them. "You're. My. Mission!" He be venomly hisses at her face.

Raven stares at him in the verge of tears. "Then finish it." She chokes out. Bucky hesitates holding his fist up. "Cause I'm with you til the end of the line."

Bucky looks at her as if he were starting to remember. He catches a glimpse of the silver ring on her left hand. A name pops into his head but before he can say anything she kicks him out of the way just a a beam falls near them and takes her down.

 _"Merly."_ He silently whispers in confusion. The bottom of the Helicarrier falls sending Merly and Steve down into the river below.

Bucky watches from the Helicarrier as he recalls seeing her before, many decades ago to be precise.

_(For some feels)_

_(Bucky POV)_

This feels oddly familiar almost like when I... fell off the train. _"Bucky !"_ The image of her reaching for me with fear etched on her face seconds before I fell flashes through my mind.

Just before her body reaches the water, I let go of the beam I was holding on to and go after her, this time to save her.

The first body I find when I jump into the water is the man's, well he isn't my first priority but I think I also knew him so I grab him and throw him to the shore before going back under to find Merly. I hope that's her name.

I follow the trail of crimson red water and I start panic and worry when I see her body under the rubble. After a few tries I finally get her out, hopefully not too late considering she's unconscious.

Even though Steve-I think that's his name- nearly broke my human arm, I suck up the pain and carry her limp body in my arms.

Carefully I lay her down near the man and I immediately check for her pulse on her left hand. I let out a sigh of relief when I finally find her pulse and she coughs out some water.

A helicopter starts coming our way, I immediately start to get up but she tugs my hand before slipping a key into it.

"Don't do anything Stupid." She chokes out with her eyes still closed. Everything she says feels like Déjà vu.

I take the key and start walking away before turning to take one last look at her. "I'm sorry." I whisper to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This the result of the impracticality stuck in a fifteen year old's imagination.


	12. Trouble

Soft snores interrupt my deep sleep and I wake up to the sound of Marvin Gaye's _Troubleman_ playing through the blindingly white room.

I stare at the blinding ceiling and I suddenly get the weird lost feeling like when you wake up at someone's house and you freak out because you forgot you stayed while you thought you were sleeping in your room.

I look around the small room and my eyes land on the two men sleeping on the insanely small couch next to my bed. I let out a small chuckle that turns into a dry cough which stirs Sam and Steve awake. I smirk at them. "On your left."

Sam throws his hands up in an exaggerated manner. "Oh come on! Not you too." Steve just lets out a chuckle.

"Steve and I are a limited edition vintage set, so you either get two or nothing." I tell Sam. "Isn't it three?" Sam asks referring to Bucky. I do a small shrug that sends a small ache through my shoulder. "You have to earn him, and I doubt you can stand all three super soldiers under one roof."

Sam shrugs and nods in agreement. "Well the last time the three of you were in the _same_ place, my beautiful _new_ car was destroyed along with other civilians' vehicles and causing chaos, _and_ you guys destroyed HYDRA and SHIELD in less than 10 minutes." Sam lists out and exaggerating the emphasis on _new_ and _and._

"So basically, I think I'm fine with just one." He adds.   
"We were worse back then." Steve adds and we all let out a small laugh. "Uh I think _you_ were the trouble maker." I point at Steve and he fakes an offended gasp. "I was not."

"Who was the 10 year old carrying around a pocket knife?" I ask him, remembering all the times the three of us got in trouble.

He rubs the back of his neck when Sam looks at him surprised. "Hey I still saved your life though." He defends.

I shrug in agreement. "Whatever, Anyways, when do I get to leave this place?"

"I think tomorrow. I don't really know." Steve answers with a thinking face. "I'll go ask." Sam says and leaves the room.

Steve waits for the door to be fully closed before turning to me. "So what exactly happened after I passed out?" He asks.

"I couldn't fight him any longer." I answer as I fiddle around with the TV remote.

He points to my face and raises an eyebrow. "That's it?"

"Well he beat me to a bloody pulp, then he saved us both, and then he left." I answer as it were everyday stuff. But in reality, I'm dying inside from the fact that he's all alone god knows where. And I think he might've even remembered us.

He sighs."You let him go." I know he understands why I did it. "Dude I could barely breathe on my own, and you still wanted me to hold him back." I retort and he just shrugs.

I look at him."We're not the only ones who're gonna be after him, you know that right?"

"Which is why we need to find him first." He answers. "And I doubt we'll have an easy time." He continues.

"He's probably halfway across the world by now." Steve says as he lets out a tired yawn. "How long have you been here?" I ask him.

"I haven't left the hospital in three days." He answers.

"What!?" Jesus, how hard did Bucky hit me? After so much pain, I went partially numb.

"I spent two days hospitalized while your body temporarily shut down to heal itself. So it's all good." He explains.

Sam comes back with some coffee. "So good news, you're being released tomorrow." He smiles handing a coffee to Steve.

"What happened to my coffee?" I ask him.

"You need to be absolutely clean when they come check you, so go on and drink your freezing water." He says pointing to the plain large platic cup next to my bed.

"How do you know it's cold water?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow.

"Hospitals always give cold water, and I got a bit thirsty earlier so..yeah that's how I know." He smiles innocently.

"Oh by the way, lunch is coming in a few minutes." He informs me after making a pained face from being burned by the coffee.

"Oh thank god, I was starving." I sigh in relief. If I didn't die from my injuries then I was most likely going to die from starvation.

A little more than a few minutes later, my food finally arrives. The nurse knocks on the door before entering with Natasha and Maria Hill following behind her.

"Here you go Ms.Velasko, the doctor will check you tomorrow morning before your release." The nurse says before giving me a small smile and blushing at the sight of half of the Avengers in one tiny room. "Thank you." I tell, returning the smile. With that she shuffles out of the room, muttering a small _'bye'_ to the others.

As soon as the door closes, I snap open the silver tray. Inside is a chicken sandwich, some small fruit and vegetable cups,a chocolate pudding cup, and an orange juice.

I grab the sandwich and take large hungry a bite out of it. Suddenly Natasha, Steve and Sam reach for the pudding cup but it gets snatched away by Maria Hill.

"Wow, you guys are unbelievable." I scoff at them when they grumpily cross their arms and glare at Hill.

"Hey, I had a rather long day getting a job at Stark's." She defends as she points the spoon at me.

I sigh and call the nurse again for more pudding. Yup, a little chocolate pudding cup can destroy the Avengers in a matter of seconds.

********

"Guys I'm fine." I wave off both Steve and Sam for what seems like the 100th time. "You sure?" Steve asks as he leaves a lingering hand on my back.

"Look, I appreciate the concern, but I can walk on my own." I smile gratefully to them. I really do appreciate their concern, it means a lot to me that they actually care about me just like I care for them.

"Are you 100% sure?" Steve asks again. "Yes, and I should be worried about you since you also nearly died along with me." I tell him.

"Umm, excuse me, but your boyfriend nearly killed me as well." Sam says in a sassy manner which makes us chuckle.

But seriously, I didn't know Bucky tried to kill him. "He did?" I ask at the news.

"Yeah he threw me from a flying Helicarrier." He says with a mock offended gesture. "What about your wings?" I ask.

"He destroyed them, and then I was abandoned at the Triskelion just as you guys crashed a big-ass Helicarrier into it, almost killing me." He explains exaggerating his gestures.

Wow, poor Sam. "But you're alive, that's what matters. Besides you're not the only one who nearly died." I tell him as we finally spot the new gravestone and he just scoffs at me muttering a small _'whatever'._

Fury told us to meet him at a cemetery at his own grave. "So, you've experienced this sort of things before?" He asks us.

Steve sighs. "You get used to it."

We stare at Fury's gravestone which bears the epitaph " _The path of the righteous man. Ezekiel 25:17"_

"We've been data-mining HYDRA's files. Looks Like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship. I'm heading to Europe tonight, wanted to ask if you'd come." He says looking at us, mostly me.

I would do anything to stop HYDRA but I have some more important priorities. "There's something I gotta do first." I tell him and he nods understanding.

"How about you, Wilson? I could use a man with your abilities." Fury asks Sam, but he turns down the offer. "I'm more of a soldier than a spy."

Fury sighs. "Alright then."

Sam and Steve shake Fury's hand, but he gives me a hug. For some reason Fury always had a soft spot for me. "Anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me right here." Fury nods to his gravestone, just then Natasha joins us.

"You should be honored, that's about as close as he gets to saying thank you." She smirks and Fury scoffs before leaving.

Steve looks surprised to see her not leaving with Fury. "Not going with him?" He asks. "No." She answers.

"Not staying here?" I ask her. She sighs. "I blew all my covers, I gotta go figure out a new one."

"That might take a while." Steve adds. "I'm counting on it." She smiles at him before turning to me.

"That thing you asked for, I called in a few favors from Kiev." She hands me a file, the one I asked her to get for me the moment before I left to stop the Helicarriers. I told her to give them to Steve if I didn't make it out.

"Will you do me a favor? Call that nurse." I look up from the file and stare at her confused, until I realize she's talking to Steve.

Steve scoffs. "She's not a nurse." "And you're not a SHIELD agent." Nat retorts.

"You won't give up will you?" I scoff at the fact that we just nearly died to take down HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D just a few days ago and she's still trying to get Steve a girlfriend.

"Only with him, and maybe Sam." She answers and Sam lets out a gasp. "Excuse me, but I can get a lady on my own." He says.

"Whatever." I scoff because I clearly remember him asking me to show up at his meetings so he could impress some women.

"It's _you_ that I'm done with, cause I'm scared Metal arm boy might come for me if I get you anywhere near another man." She says and I laugh at that, maybe I might do it on purpose just to get him to come back.

"What was her name again?" Steve asks and I roll my eyes. "Sharon. She's nice." Nat says before kissing Steve on the cheek and giving me a hug.

**_ (AN: For the love of god stop with the hate comments  _ ** **_ over _ ** **_ Sharon. Calm tf down, she  _ ** **_ won't _ ** **_ end up with Cap in this fic. Y'all hate her  _ ** **_ cause _ ** **_ the Russos did her dirty. Sharon is a badass independent shield/ _ ** **_ CIA _ ** **_ agent who needs no man and shall not be downgraded to a love interest, period) _ **

"Be careful, Merly. You might not want to pull on that thread." She warns me.

Natasha walks away and Steve nods for me to open the file, which is about Bucky and the information regarding his Winter Soldier transformation. I run a shivering hand over his picture in the cryo chamber and the one before he was deployed.

Sam walks over next to me. "You're going after him?"

I look at him. "You don't have to come with me." I only tell him cause I know damn well Steve is going to come with me no matter what I tell him.

Sam gives me a faint smile.

"I know. When do we start?"


	13. Miracles

"Where are we going?" Steve asks me confused as he drives, following the directions my system _Liz_ is giving us.

"I just have to check something from my storage unit." I tell him as I skim through The Winter Soldier's file. As expected, Zola was the leading scientist involved in this.

"Since when do you have a storage unit?" Steve asks.

"I got it after we were defrosted and I kept putting stuff there for emergencies and other things like that." I explain to him.

"What kind of emergencies?" Sam asks from the backseat.

"Like hiding, which is the situation of a _certain someone_ at the moment." I explain and I take a sharp intake of pure air when I notice a familiar mission date on the file.

_December 16,1991._

Holy mother of THOR.

Steve gives me a weird look and I let out a huff. "I'll tell you later." If I tell him right now, he might crash my new Tahoe into a tree, which I received courtesy of Fury.

"Okay, stop here." I tell Steve and he stops near an abandoned warehouse in an empty alley.

"Were is this storage unit exactly?" Steve asks as he looks around the horrible place.

I nod for them to follow."Inside, come on." We enter the warehouse and open a storage closet which has a secret door behind a shelf.

Steve nods over to the markings on the floor signifying that the shelf has been recently moved. "Looks like someone's been here recently."

"Well what are you waiting for? Move the shelf." I tell both of them when they just stand there staring at me and they quickly shuffle to move the shelf.

They move the shelf and I stick the spare key into the keyhole. The sound of metal screeching echoes through the ware house as the door opens revealing a room filled with weapons and some medical kits.

Steve and Sam gape at the room. "I thought you said you had the storage stocked for emergencies." Steve says pointing at the guns. "Well I need protection too." Sam walks around the room like a kid in a candy shop.

"He took my bike." I grumpily mumble under my breath at the sight of my motorcycle gone.

"He?" Sam asks as he tries to open the black vault box.

"Bucky." Steve answers realizing why I really came here.

"Yup, the jerk took everything." I tell them as I look around for every missing thing.

A few knives are missing, my motorcycle is missing, the emergency backpack that I made for Steve which was packed with money and clothes is gone as well.

"Well at least now I can sleep peacefully knowing he has the basic survival stuff." I sigh in relief.

"Okay, first of all. How the hell did he know what the key was for?" Sam asks overly confused.

"The key I gave him had coordinates engraved on it." I explain as they look around.

They both nod in approvingly. "Nice."

"What's in here?" Sam asks as he keeps going back to the vault box. "Fake IDs, passports, licenses, and money." I tell him as I start opening it, only to find a mess. "Correction. _Used_ to have money." I sigh and lazily slam the vault closed.

"Anyways, I only have stuff for Steve and I, but I'll make some for you later." I tell Sam and he grins like a kid being told he's getting ice cream.

"Here you go guys." I place a key into their hands. "Only for _emergencies_ Sam." I glare at him and he just holds up his hands in defeat. "Alright."

"You know, we should give this place a name or something." Sam suggests as both him and Steve start listing a variety of names.

 _"The Cage."_ Sam suggests proudly. "Sam we're Avengers not wrestlers." I tell him.

"But you guys _are_ named after birds, so the name does make sense." Steve adds.

"Well you already had a secret agency named after you, so you don't get to choose this time buddy." I tell Steve and he pouts like a cutte little puppy. I pat him on the shoulder. "Sorry."

"Fine. Then we'll just stick with _'_ _The Storage Unit'._ " Steve says sarcastically.

********************

_(3rd POV HYDRA Lab)_

"It's over. Fury has released everything to the public." The HYDRA scientist says to Strucker as he fidgets with his hands behind his back.

Strucker nods and shrugs his shoulders. "Everything he knows about."

The scientist looks at him worried. "von Strucker, if they get word of our work here, if they find out we serve HYDRA..."

"HYDRA, SHIELD, two sides of a coin that's no longer currency." Strucker says interrupting the bantering scientist.  
They walk over to the corner of the lab where Loki's scepter is being kept. "What we have is worth more than any of them ever knew. We've only scratched the surface and already..." Strucker continues.

They continue walking through the lab. "There are other facilities doing HYDRA's good work around the world. We'll feed them to Captain America and his colorful friends. Keep them off our scent." Strucker explains his plan.

"What about The Raven?.....What about the volunteers?" The scientist blurts out in panic.

Strucker lets out an irritated sigh. "The dead will be buried so deep their own ghosts won't be able to find them."

"And the survivors?" The scientist continues with his questions.

"The twins and the soldier." Strucker smirks as  
three files pop up on the computer screen.

He turns to see the twins, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, aka Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, being kept in glass cells each exhibiting their powers, Pietro having superhuman speed and Wanda having telekinetic powers.

"Sooner or later they will meet the twins. It's not a world of spies anymore, not even a world of heroes. This is the age of miracles, doctor." Strucker says staring in awe at his experiments before turning to The Raven's file.

"And there's nothing more horrifying than a miracle."


	14. This Might Hurt

"This is like the 100th cold lead we've had." Sam groans as we run from the HYDRA soldiers shooting at us.

In any other occasion we would've certainly fought the soldiers, but currently it's just me and Sam following yet another cold lead towards Bucky in the past year.

"Gotta say, he was always good at hide and seek." I tell him as we both drop down and slide towards the underground tunnel before throwing the last bomb towards the soldiers.

The bomb goes off and blocks the entrance with rubble as Sam and I keep running. "This is..what? like the 5th HYDRA base we've accidentally encountered this year." Sam stops to catch his breath.

I do a small shrug. "Probably, and I told you that you didn't have to come with me." I tell him.

He rolls his eyes before sending RedWing to check the next few tunnels. "Well I have nothing else to do." He breathes out.

We sit down to catch our breaths. Sam shakes a packet of gum in front of my face. "Want some?" I give him a small smile and take a piece.

I lean my head back and close my eyes to the pure darkness of my thoughts. It's been almost a year since I last saw him, since I last heard his voice. Every night before I close my eyes, all I see are his blue eyes full of mixed emotions of a broken soul. Some nights I have nightmares from the train _incident._

 _"Incoming Call." Liz's_ voicesilently echoes throughout the tunnel, interrupting my thoughts.

"From who?" I ask her confused, maybe it's Natasha and Steve who are currently looking for Loki's Scepter.

 _"Agent Phil Coulson." Liz_ responds.

I let out a sigh."Put him through."

"Ms.Raven, glad to see you still alive." Coulson greets causing me to scoff. "Says the man whom I thought was dead til a few months ago." I tell him, since he has been helping the rest of the Avengers look for Loki's Scepter.

He chukles a bit. "I'll take that one. Anyways I was calling you since you are the only one near Sokovia..."

I cut him off once I see the coordinates he sent me. "Sokovia? Coulson, I'm still like at the other side of the country."

"Yes, yet you are the only one anywhere near it." He answers.

"Yeah, but didn't you say a signal was sparked somewhere in the Artic Ice?" I ask confused. Looking for Loki's Scepter and Bucky at the same time is stressful because all I keep getting is cold leads.

"Yes and there has also been another signal sparked somewhere in Cuba, but I already sent Stark." Coulson says,and I doubt Tony will pay attention to the mission, he might go get a few drinks and maybe some cigars before even looking.

"Alright, I'll go check it out before heading down to Africa." I sigh before ending the call.

I look over to Sam who doesn't look a bit surprised."Looks like you get a break." I tell him.

He raises an eyebrow. "You're going by yourself ?"

"Yeah, it's supposed be an abandoned base." I look over to RedWing flying back to Sam. "I'll meet you down in Africa as soon as I'm done in Sokovia."

"Coast is clear." He nods before patting Redwing. I give him a weird look. "What?"

"It's weird seeing you show that much affection for a robot bird." I tell him as we start walking out of the tunnels.

He scoffs. "Says the one who is stalking her robot assassin boyfriend."

"He only has a metal arm, Sam he's not a complete robot."

"He's still creepy." He answers.

"But he's still hot." I defend. And damn right my Bucky still looks irresistible, even as an assassin.

********* _(_ _Play song)_

_(Sokovia)_

"What is that thing around the building?" I ask _Liz_ because I'm pretty sure that building is not abandoned, considering the amount of soldiers I had to fight and I'm not even at the entrance yet.

_"Loki's Sceptre must indeed be here because this technology is far more advanced than in any other HYDRA facility we've encountered."_

"Alright, call Coulson." I tell her as I make my way near the force field.

 _"Commun...ication s..system faili...failing."_ Liz starts glitching and then suddenly goes static and I'm left alone in the silence with only the wind blowing and my boots sliding over the snow.

I immediately take off my glove and tap my coordinates in morse code on my watch. I'm not exactly positive Nat might receive this but it's worth a try.

"Heimdall, if you can hear me buddy. Please tell Thor were I am if I don't make it out." I whisper while staring up at the cloudy sky.

From the corner of my eye I spot a secret entrance where the soldiers must've come out from. I crouch down and walk over to it and tap the door once I hear an empty echo I crack open the keypad and do my techie thing to open the doors.

The doors open to a dark silent hall. _Wow not creepy at all._

I obviously don't need any flash lights since my eyes are like night vision and infrared.

No sound, no heat signatures, nothing.

Now why would you keep soldiers guarding an empty building ?

The maze of hallways leads to nothing major, only a few empty cells with faint smears of blood.  
Yeah, I should probably turn back and leave because this place looks horrifying.

I stomp my foot to hear the echoes, I wait for a few seconds till it ends but I only receive another echo in return.

I pull out my guns and silently walk towards where the echo came from.

I'm not sure what happened, It's kind of weird, but it's like something in my brain clicked and somehow I desperately need to reach the destination.

I walk into a lab full of computers still on and at the corner sits the one thing that the Avengers have been looking for, for months.

Without thinking I run and reach for the scepter, once my palm makes contact with it, my hand is suddenly locked with the same metal handcuffs Rumlow used on me back in D.C. , and the Scepter is locked away as well.

I gasp in shock. "What the hell!"

I point my gun at a faint light of blue and silver I spot at the entrance, but my gun gets swooshed away from my hand and in less than a second all of the bullets are perfectly lined up on the table.

What.In.The.Holy.Hell.Is. Going. On?

A slight sting trickles down the back of my neck and I instinctively reach to touch it.

I let out a faint hiss as I pull out the object that appears to be a needle-like tranquilizer. Good thing my body heals fast so tranquilizers don't really work on me.

Suddenly dozens of soldiers start coming in, followed by none other than Strucker.

I flip a nearby table with my right arm and I kick it towards the soldiers and proceed to swing around my knife and legs in an attempt to push the soldiers away.

I throw my knife at Strucker but it gets stopped by a red smoke-like light.

"Ms.Raven I believe it's time for an upgrade." Strucker smirks and I stare at him in confusion and anger.

How was he able to hide all of these soldiers from me? ME!? for fucks sake. Is the serum finally wearing off or something?

Three soldiers come up behind me with much bigger injections and as they approach me, the rest of the soldiers pull out their tasers and lunge towards me.  
My body convulses on the cold ground as the twins stand in the far off corner staring at me in shock. My lack of attention gives the soldiers the advantage to plunge the needles into my neck.

Darkness threatens to consume my vision but I keep blinking hard to keep it from going away.

"Don't fight it." Strucker smirks and it's the last thing I see.

*********

All kinds of machines beep throughout the concrete room. The echoes are like knives stabbing my eardrums, causing a painful headache.

I reach to cover my ears but my hands get stopped my something cold. "No." I let out a muffled drowsy whimper.

"Ms.Raven please stay still." One of the many doctors say.

Are you fucking kidding me!? He wants me to voluntarily stay still.

I start thrashing around, but it's no use.

For the first time in what seemed like an eternity of life, I'm scared, I'm afraid, I'm weak.

I'm helpless.

My stubborn ass should've brought back-up or at least Sam.

A cold metal contraption wraps around my head and the doctors start injecting things into me.

My breathing begins to get ragged and my heart is beating faster than it should.

Strucker walks over to me and smirks as the sound of electricity starts buzzing through my head.

"This might hurt."


	15. Alive

_(3rd POV)_

_Research Base, Sokovia._

After hearing the chaos going around his facility, Strucker immediately heads to the security room. "Who gave the order to attack?" He asks loudly. One of the soldiers nervously answers him. "Herr Strucker, it's the Avengers. They landed in the far woods, the perimeter guard panicked."

His scientist, Dr.List jogs next to Strucker. "They have to be after the scepter." He says panicking.

"Yes, but the girl is most likely their first priority." Strucker adds before turning back to the scared shitless soldier. "Can we hold them?"

"They are the Avengers!" The soldiers answers honestly.

Strucker rolls his eyes at him. "Deploy the rest of the tanks." He orders.

The soldier stutters and hesitates for a moment. "Yes, sir."

"Concentrate fire on the weak ones. A hit can make them close ranks. Everything we've accomplished. But we're on the verge of our greatest breakthrough." Strucker commands in an attempt to relieve some panic from his soldiers.

"Then let's show them what we've accomplished. Send out the twins." Dr.List suggests.

"It's too soon." Strucker denies.

"It's what they signed up for, and they aided in taking down the Raven, sir." The doctor adds almost pleading.

"They merely messed with her. And my men can hold them." Strucker nods over to the computer screen where the Avengers can be seen in combat.

"We will not yield. The Americans sent their circus freaks to test us. We will send them back in bags. No Surrender!" Strucker continues his attempt to pump up the soldiers to keep fighting to buy him some more time.  
"No Surrender!" The soldiers chant in unison as the hold up their fist.

Strucker turns to Dr.List quietly. "I am going to surrender. You will delete everything. If we give the Avengers the weapons, they may not look too far into what we've been..."

"The twins." Dr.List interrupts him.

Strucker sighs in annoyance. "They are not ready to take on..."

"No, no. I mean..." He points to where the twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were standing just a few seconds ago but are now gone. "Twins."

Strucker runs towards the cell where Raven is being kept in a semi-catatonic state. "Prep her." He orders the doctors observing her through a window.

"But sir, the process is still incomplete. She could go unstable and maybe even cause death." One of the scientists informs.

Strucker frustratingly runs a hand across his face. "Then wipe her and let the soldiers do their part."

The doctors and scientists head over to her and set her up to wipe her memory of only the previous events.

****************

"Clint!" Natasha yells in worry after a soldier manages to shoot him.

Pietro knocks down Steve as he speeds past him. Steve looks around to see his attacker long gone. "We have an enhanced in the field."

"Clint's hit!" Natasha reports before going over to where Clint is lying down. She drags him to safety from the bunker still firing at them. "Somebody want to deal with that bunker?" She sees the Hulk coming in and easily smashing the bunker.  
"Thank you."

Steve continues to take down many soldiers. "Stark, we really need to get inside."

Tony flies straight to the fortress. "I'm closing in. JARVIS, am I...closing in? Do you see a power source for that shield?"

 _"_ _There's a pathway below the north tower."_ JARVIS answers.

Tony smirks. "Great, I wanna poke it with something." He manages to blow up the invisible shield on the base.

"Drawbridge is down, people." Tony reports to the others.

"The enhanced?" Thor asks Steve once he sees him near.

"He's a blur. All the new player's we've faced, I've never seen this. In fact, I still haven't." Steve breathes out, but his main worry is that this is the last place Merly was supposed to be before suddenly disappearing for over a week, so Strucker could've probably killed her by now.

"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys. We're gonna need evac." Natasha urgently reports to the others.

"I can get Barton to the jet. The sooner we're gone the better. You and Stark secure the scepter and find lady Raven." Thor suggests.

"Copy that." Steve nods.

"It looks like they're lining up." Thor says referring to the soldiers lining up with their HYDRA tank.

"Well, they're excited." Steve kneels down and holds up his shield. Thor slams his hammer onto Steve's shield and the force knocks down all the soldiers.

"Find the scepter." Thor says before swinging the hammer and flying off.

"And for gosh sake, watch your language!" Tony mocks, causing Steve to sigh. "That's not going away anytime soon."

Steve continues to run and makes it into the HYDRA base where he comes face-to-face with Strucker. "Baron Strucker. Hydra's number one thug."

Strucker scoffs. "Technically, I'm a thug for SHIELD."

"Well then technically you're unemployed. Where's Loki's scepter?" Steve retorts.

Strucker smirks knowing Steve doesn't care about the Scepter, he only wants to find his friend.  
"Don't worry, I know when I'm beat. You'll mention how I cooperated, I hope."

"I'll put it right under illegal human experimentation." Steve adds as Wanda creeps up behind him. "How many are there?" Suddenly Wanda knocks Steve down using her telekinetic powers and quickly leaves.

"We have a second enhanced. Female. Do not engage." Steve warns the others.

He turns and glares at Strucker. "We both know why you're really here. So stop avoiding the question." Strucker says with a smug look and that's all it takes for Steve to confirm that Merly is or _was_ indeed in the building.

Steve grabs him by the throat and slams him into the wall, causing a few cracks in it. "Were is she?!"

"Cap she's on the other side of the building on the lowest level. I'm heading down there." Tony informs him.

Strucker lets out a dry laugh. "You'll have to be faster than..." Steve grows impatient and uses his shield to knock out Strucker.

"Guys, I got Strucker." He reports.

"Good job capsicle, and I've already secured the Scepter. Now let's go get our girl." Tony says.

_(Play song)_

Steve runs at full speed towards where Tony told him were Merly was being kept. To him it feels like history repeating itself.  
This is exactly how he found out about the Tesseract while rescuing Bucky.

Steve stop dead in his tracks when he finally sees her. Her body is severely injured that it looks like flesh was carved out of her wounds. As his eyes scan her body he notices the pool of blood beneath her and starts feeling like he can't breathe, like someone is reaching into his heart and crushing it.

"Merly!" He looks around for a door but there isn't any, he yells and punches the window, only to find that it's reinforced bulletproof glass.

Tony finally arrives a few seconds after Steve, still shaken up by his vision, he goes into the same panic mode as Steve when he sees Merly's limp and battered up body hanging by some chains.

"JARVIS can you find the entrance?" Tony asks barely able to form words with the bile rising in his throat.

 _"The wall on your left sir." JARVIS_ answers.

Tony taps on the wall and a steel door appears, Steve smashes the keypad with his shield and runs into the room.

"Merly?!" Steve asks as he holds up her bloody face. "James?" She slurred in a somewhat unconscious state. Steve's heart breaks in half all over again when he hears her say his name.

"It's me, Steve." He says trying to make a smile while forcing the bile down his throat.

"Steve? Steve!" She says with a faint smile on her busted lips as she raises her head, Steve notices the bruises and injection marks.

"JARVIS, vitals?"

_"Massive blood loss. Severe tissue and bone damage. And an alarmingly low heart rate and many more life threatening things. Sir, it's impossible that she's still alive."_

"Well she's not an easy take." Tony says as he blasts off the geniusly placed chains that would make it impossible for someone to escape. For example if she moved her left leg then her right arm would be pulled back and vice versa.

Steve catches her and they both hurry to the Quinjet.

"Widow,prep everything we've got. We found her and she's barely alive." Tony informs Natasha.

"On it." Natasha reports back with a sigh of relief as she prepares yet another medical bed for Merly. She nearly lost her two bestfriends in the same day.

Steve rushes in with a limp Merly in his arms causing everyone in the jet to gasp a the bloody sight.

He gently places her unconscious body on the bed and Natasha hurriedly starts to treat her wounds as much as he can. Clint practically forgets the pain of his wound when he sees her much worse body next to him. He thought about how he never told her about his children and how they had always been wanting to meet her.

"Hey Banner, Dr. Cho's on her way in from Seoul, is it okay if she sets up in your lab?" Tony asks snapping Bruce out of his thoughts. "Uh, yeah, she knows her way around."

"Thanks." He continues to set up the autopilot. "JARVIS Tell her to prep everything, They're gonna need the full treatment."

_"Very good sir."_

"JARVIS, take the wheel." Tony says swiveling around his chair and heading over to check up on Merly .

 _"Yes, sir. Approach vector is locked_. _"_

"Thor, buddy you okay?" Tony asks the impatiently pacing god.

"Why take her?" Steve asks out of nowhere.

"Maybe she came close to figuring out what Strucker was doing while she looked for the Scepter." Bruce suggests.

"But she would've told us." Steve answers while thinking.

"Actually, _Liz_ would've told us if anything had happened to her." Tony adds as they all think about the same question.

"They could've interfered with the signal." Steve adds but remaining quiet while holding her left hand then he realizes that her ring is missing he immediately goes to gets up and search her stuff but Natasha hands him the ring herself. He nods to her and sighs a small thanks.

He slips the ring back onto her finger and continues to hold her hand while praying for this to not be the end of the line.

"I'm not being a downer, but why keep her alive? It's not a wise move to take her and try to control her." Clint asks.

Bruce snaps his fingers with a theory. "The scepter can manipulate someone's mind. Loki somehow had control over it..."

"What are you saying?" Tony asks as a shiver runs down his spine, reminding him of his vision. "The scepter manipulated their minds to keep her alive?"

"Loki said he could never hurt someone like her." Thor adds in realization.

"And he never did, he actually respected her..." Natasha adds recalling to the conversation Merly had with him compared to the one she herself had with Loki.

"Like a queen."


	16. Orphan

As soon as the jet lands, Dr.Cho along with her nurses runs towards Merly and Clint and place them on more proper medical beds.

Agent Hill lets out a shocked gasp when she finally catches a glimpse of Merly's body. She knew that they had found her barely alive, but she never really thought her body would've been that damaged.

Everyone piles out of the jet, Tony and Bruce head to the lab to inspect the Sceptre while Natasha and Thor follow the nurses.

"Lab's all set up, boss." Agent Hill tells Tony. He points to Steve. "Uh, actually, he's the boss. I just pay for everything, and design everything and make everyone look cooler." He says before following Bruce to the lab.

Steve rolls his eyes. "What's the word on Strucker?"  
"NATO's got him."

"The two enhanced?" He asks.  
Hill hands him a tablet with the information on the twins. "Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. Twins. Orphaned at ten when a shell collapsed their apartment building. Sokovia's had a rough history. It's nowhere special but it's on the way to everywhere special."

"Their abilities?" Steve asks referring to their unexpected combat.

"He's got increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Her thing is neural electric interfacing, telekinesis, mental manipulation." Hill explains and Steve just looks at her funny. She sighs and rephrases the statement so he can understand. "He's fast and she's weird."

Steve nods. "Well, they're going to show up again."

"Agreed. File says they volunteered for Strucker's experiments. It's nuts." She says while showing him a file of rumored failed experiments.

"Is there anything else on his experiments?" Steve asks and Hill understands that he needs to know for sure if Merly was experimented on or not.

She looks around to see if anyone might over hear them before dragging him into an empty office. "We found a _highly_ classified locked file from HYDRA shortly after you guys took it down."

She hands him an old worn file.  
"What's this?" Steve asks confused as he stares at the file that is nearly empty.

"Merly found it at an old HYDRA base in Germany." She adds as he looks through the vague information. "Did Strucker do this?" Steve asks nodding towards the images.

"No. The dates are from almost a hundred years ago." She says pointing to the last date marked on the file.

"Then how does this relate to Strucker?" Steve asks now impatient from Hill's vague answers.

She nods towards the ultrasound images, which is something far more advanced for technology available almost a century ago. "What does that look like to you?"

"A baby?" Steve answers but it comes out more as a question.

"Strucker chose mostly orphans. And that file is from nearly 100 years ago. Who's the only orphan we know from the 1900's that's still alive?

Hydra had the tendency to replicate experiments until it found its mistake. Steve stares at her in shock and realization. "Her."

********

After a few minutes of arguing, Steve continues to pace around the empty office. "There's no way she's part of HYDRA." He says running a through his hair.

"Steve we are still not sure on whether or not she is, but it is most likely that Strucker had a similar theory. Which is probably why he took her." Hill says crossing her arms. She knew telling him would be a bad idea, but seeing the situation they're in, she didn't really have a choice.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence, and that child is someone else." Steve says pointing a hand at the file.

Hill rolls her eyes at him but completely understands him. "That's one hell of a coincidence to ignore."

"What did she say about this?"

"She said it _could_ possibly explain her extra abilities, considering she had a much smaller dose of the serum." Hill answers.

"Why didn't she tell me about this sooner?" Steve huffs while frustratedly pacing.

"She ordered us to put it aside until after she found Barnes." Hill informs him.

Steve turns to her confused. " _Us?"_

"Me and Romanoff." She answers and Steve scoffs. "This is getting real tiring, you know." Steve says referring to the fact that lately everyone has been keeping secrets from one another.

"Everything she does is for the safety of you and others. She said that looking into that file might do more harm than good." Hill explains in an attempt to calm down the super soldier.

"Let's hope it doesn't affect the team." Steve says before exiting the room.


	17. Plastic

_(3rd POV)_

Natasha looks back and forth from Clint to Merly.  
"You sure they're going to be okay? Pretending to need this guy really brings the team together." Natasha says and smirks at Clint's reaction.

"There's no possibility of deterioration. The nano-molecular functionality is instantaneous. Their cells don't know they're bonding with simulacrum." Dr.Cho explains as she starts preparing the machine for Clint.

Bruce walks over to them and admires the machine. "She's creating tissue." He rephrases.

"If you had brought them to my lab, the regeneration Cradle could do this in twenty minutes. Maybe a bit longer for her." Dr.Cho says while grimacing at the now healing super soldier.

"Oh, he's flatlining. Call it. Time?" Tony mocks as he enters the room with some nutritional drinks.

"No, no, no. I'm going to live forever. I'm gonna be made of plastic." Tony hands Barton a drink. "Here's your beverage."

Dr.Cho chuckles at his response. "You'll be made of you, Mr. Barton. Your own girlfriend won't be able to tell the difference."

"Well, I don't have a girlfriend." Clint answers making Dr.Cho purse her lips. "That I can't fix. This is the next thing, Tony. Your clunky metal suits are going to be left in the dust."

"Well, that is exactly the plan. And Helen, I expect to see you at the party on Saturday." Tony adds.

Dr.Cho looks at him weirdly. "Unlike you, I don't have a lot of time for parties." She hesitates a moment before asking. "Will Thor be there?"

"How is she?" Steve asks nodding over to the room covered in curtains.

Dr.Cho nods over for him to follow. "We managed to stabilize her. And her body is healing at an incredibly amazing rate." Dr.Cho says in awe at the sight of Merly's body visibly healing.

"It will be like it never happened." One of the supervising nurses mutters in awe.

"But it did." Steve adds a bit bitterly.

"When will she wake up?" Natasha asks as she walks into the room.

"Soon, either later today or early tomorrow." Dr.Cho says before exiting the room.

"So you also knew." Steve says to Natasha.

"We don't know anything for sure. It's only a small coincidence." She defends.

They both quietly argue about it for a few minutes until they get interrupted.

"For the love of god, please shut up." A groggy voice interrupts them.

Steve sighs in relief. "Oh thank god."

"Do you remember anything?" Natasha asks immediately.

"Remember what?" Merly asks while looking around confused.

"Sokovia? Strucker? Anything?" Steve lists out and Merly stares at him blankly.

"The last thing I remember is being with Sam at a HYDRA base. That's about it." She answers and stares at the ceiling in confusion.

"Why? What happened?" She asks nodding towards the machine making tissue on her own body.

"You went to Sokovia looking for the Scepter, and got ambushed by Strucker." Nat explains.

"Ring any bells?" Steve asks hopeful on finding out why Strucker really took her.

"Nope. No bells ringing." She answers popping out the "p".

Tony knocks on the door before peaking his through the opening. "About time to wake up birdy. Remember, party Saturday night." He winks at her and leaves.

Merly points towards the machine around her. "So am I being filled in with plastic?"

Nat chuckles. "Dr.Cho said recreates tissues."

"Can it recreate an entire arm?"


	18. Mjolnir

_(Merly aka Raven POV)_

I look around for my fellow bird friend until I finally spot him talking with Nat near the bar.  
"Sammy!" I call out and run towards him.

He holds his arms open and engulfs me in a tight hug. "Girl, you nearly gave me a heart attack for disappearing like that."

I let go and mutter a small 'sorry'. He lets out a chuckle. "You know, for a moment I thought Cap was going to de-Cap-itate me for not looking after you." He says and I laugh at his little joke, which is the exact joke I made when Bucky tried to kill us back in D.C

Good old days.

Steve rolls his eyes at him and Nat laughs before walking away towards Rhodey. Steve goes on and tells us the story of what happened in Sokovia.

"Sounds like a hell of a fight, sorry I missed it." Sam says as we walk towards the pool table.

Steve waves him off. "If I had known it was going to be a firefight I absolutely would have called you."

Sam smiles. "No, I'm not actually sorry. I'm just trying to sound tough. I'm very happy chasing cold leads on our _missing persons_ case." Sam adds while giving me a cold look, although I know he's joking.

"Avenging is your world. Your world is crazy." We stand near the railings and look over everyone having a good time and celebrating our successful mission, well more like _their_ successful mission cause I was the idiot who got captured and can't remember a thing.

Steve smiles at the sight of his fellow Avengers having a good time. "Be it ever so humble."

"You find a place in Brooklyn yet?" Sam asks Steve, causing him to scoff. "I don't think I can afford a place in Brooklyn."

I nod in agreement. "Yeah, you would think that being one of earth's mightiest heroes would get you a luxurious life, but unfortunately it's not like that."

"Well, home is home, you know?" Sam shrugs. "A home we can barely afford." I scoff. "Besides I've been staying in different motels all over the world due to our _missing persons_ case." I add.

"What a life." Sam states before grabbing a drink from the bar.

"Tell me about it." I add before taking a sip of my drink, which took me over and hour of arguing with Steve to let me drink after healing.

After an hour of playing at the hockey table with Sam I walk over to the bar to get us some drinks. Steve and Thor are there talking to an elderly man at the party.

"I gotta have some of that!" The man says nodding over to the antique flask. Thor starts shaking his head as he hands Steve some of it. "Oh, no, no, no. See this, this was aged for a thousand years, in the barrels built from the wreck of Brunhilde's fleet, it's not meant for mortal men." Thor pours the drink into two glasses and hands one to me.

"Neither was Omaha Beach, blondie. Stop trying to scare us. Come on." The man insists, I look over to his name tag and it reads _Stan Lee._

Thor looks over to us and gives us a questioning look, I just shrug. "If the man wants to."

"Alright." Thor pours some of the drink into the Stan Lee's glass, I leave and come back almost an hour later only to find Mr.Stan Lee looking extremely drunk and being carried off by two men as he sings "Excelsior."

I grab two beers from Nat at the bar, I spot Bruce coming towards us. I wink at Nat. "Cute." She blushes and turns back to prepare her own drink.

At least someone in the team gets to have a little love life. It seems like all heroes are single and can't seem to keep a steady relationship.

Like mine is complicated, absolutely complicated, then there's Tony and Thor who can barely find time to be with their girlfriends, and Steve and Sam are still single.

Such a shame.

**********  
Thor and Clint argue about the hammer while the rest of us play cards. "But, it's a trick!" Clint exclaims as he points the drum sticks towards the hammer sitting on the table. Why does he even have drum sticks? Is there a secret boy band that I don't know about? I can already picture them _Earth's Mightiest Boy Band._

"Oh, no. It's much more than that." Thor chuckles.

"Uh, _'_ _Whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power!'_ Whatever man! It's a trick." Clint continues.

Thor smirks and waves towards the hammer. "Well please, be my guest."

"Come on." Tony encourages. Clint gets up surprised that Thor us willing to let us touch Mjolnir. "Really?"

"Yeah!" He gets up and walks towards it. Rhodey stops his conversation with Maria Hill. "Oh this is gonna be beautiful."

"Clint, you've had a tough week, we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up." Tony teases causing us all to laugh.

"You know I've seen this before, right?" Clint says before grabbing Mjolnir only to find that he can't lift it.

He laughs and turns to Thor after he fails to lift the hammer. "I still don't know how you do it."

"Smell the silent judgment?" Tony mocks.

"Please, Stark, by all means." I dare him. Tony gets up and Nat shakes her head."Oh, here we go."

"Never one to shrink from an honest challenge." He says as he unbuttons his jacket.

"It's physics." He adds. "Physics!" Bruce mocks. Tony grasps Mjolnir. "Right, so, if I lift it, I...I then rule Asgard?"

"Yes, yes of course." Thor answers holding up his drink. Gotta say, that Asgardian alcohol is strong, yet not strong enough for my forever healing abilities. Sigh.

"I will be re-instituting Prima Nocta." He says.

"Ugh, Tony that's gross." I cringe at his old-timey rape joke. Just by suggesting that he's already unworthy.

He tries to lift the hammer but fails just like Clint. "I'll be right back." He says before walking away. He comes back wearing his armored hand, tries to lift the hammer again and fails.

He tosses over the other hand piece to Rhodey and they both try to lift the hammer.

"Are you even pulling?" Rhodes asks as he continues to pull.  
"Are you on my team?" Tony says as he moves around the hammer and adjusts his grip. Rhodey nods and the repulsors turn on. "Just represent! Pull!"

"Alright, let's go!" They both pull as hard as they can but the hammer doesn't even move.

The rest of us continue to laugh at their struggle,Bruce gets up next and tries to lift the hammer, he roars pretending to change into the Hulk but fails, and everyone but Natasha stares at him warily. "Huh?" Nat and I just give him a small smile. Such a dork.

Which kind of reminds me of Bucky when we were young, people always said Bucky was the trouble maker and Steve was the nerd, but in reality it was the other way around.  
Steve practically picked a fight with anything that moved and Bucky was the guy who dragged us to a science convention for fun.

I think for a moment and nudge Steve who's sitting next to me. "Are you worthy of thy hammer?" I ask mocking Thor's accent.

He chuckles and gets up."Let's go, Steve, no pressure." Tony teases.

"Come on, Cap." Rhodey encourages.

Steve starts pulling on the hammer and manages to budge it a little, Thor looks like he's about to have a heart attack and my jaw nearly hits the ground.   
Steve stills for a moment and pretends to fail. Thor laughs with relief. "Nothing."

"You lied?" I ask the now nervous Steve. "Nn..no, why would I do that?" He says avoiding making eye contact with me. "You're a terrible liar." I tease and he turns away to hide his red face. He's is indeed worthy of Mjolnir.

"And?" Tony points at me.

This is a question I secretly had answered for myself back in New York while no one was looking, and guess what... I couldn't lift the damned hammer. And after all the crap that I've done just to find Bucky, I doubt I'm even worthy of touching Mjolnir.

"You know, I think I might keep the suspense going." I answer before taking a sip of my drink. Tony lets out an exaggerated whine.

"Widow?" Bruce asks and she immediately turns him down. "Oh, no no. That's not a question I need answered." She says and takes a sip of her beer.

"All deference to the man who wouldn't be king, but it's rigged." Tony mocks. "You bet your ass." Clint agrees.

"Steve, he said a bad language word." Hill says as she points towards Clint. I stifle a laugh, since Tony told me about it soon after I woke up.

Steve sighs and turns to Tony who's is smirking. "Did you tell everyone about that?"

Tony smirks but continues his argument about lifting Mjolnir. "The handle's imprinted, right? Like a security code. " _Whosoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints"_ is, I think, the literal translation?"

"Yes, well that's, uh, that's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one." Thor gets up and lifts his hammer and flips it easily. " You're all not worthy."

There's a chorus of disagreement from the others.  
"But what if we like, cut off his hand and try to pick it up. Would it work?" I ask and Thor stares at me wide eyed.

Suddenly there's a loud screeching noise, causing everyone to cover their ears, especially me who has enhanced hearing.

"Worthy... No... How could you be worthy? You're all killers." One of the damaged robots says.

Steve looks over warily to Tony. "Stark."  
Tony looks alarmed and pulls out his device. "JARVIS?"

JARVIS doesn't answer so I pull out my own device. " _Liz ?"_  
But I don't get a response, just static so I reboot her again, and nothing.

"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or...I was a-dream?" The robot says as he waves his hand in discomfort.

Tony and I keep tapping our devices. "Reboot, Legionnaire OS, we got a buggy suit." Tony mutters.

The rest of us just keep staring at it worried. "There was a terrible noise...and I was tangled in... in...strings. I had to kill the other two. They were good guys."

Steve now looks alarmed. "You killed someone?"

"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices." The robot answered with a cocky tone.

Thor starts gripping Mjolnir a little tighter. "Who sent you?"

The robot replays Tony's voice." _I see a suit of armor around the world"._

Bruce stares at us in realization  
"Ultron!" Causing me to glare at Tony.

"In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this...chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission." Ultron says as he slowly paces around.

That's it I'm running out of patience. "What mission?" I yell at Ultron.

"Peace in our time." Suddenly the Iron Legion bots smash through the walls and start attacking all of us.

Steve kicks the table up to block the robot coming at us. I grab him by his shirt and throw us behind the couch. "Raven!" Natasha calls out from behind the bar, I look at her and she slides over a gun. We keep guns hidden all over the place just in case of emergencies. We even have guns hidden at other people's houses, like at Sam's house and Steve's apartment.

I keep shooting the robots as I run towards Dr.Cho who is hiding behind the piano. I jump onto the robot creeping up to her and the robot starts flying us towards a wall.

I put the gun on the robots neck, but before I can shoot, another robot comes at me and we go through the wall, dropping my gun in the moment. "Shit."

"It's unsafe." One of the Iron Legion says as they attack me.  
I roll my eyes as I dodge their blasts. "You don't say." I mutter as I rip it's body in half with a chair and I continue to smash the other one with it.

Tony eventually manages to shut down the Iron Legion, at the same time Clint throws the shield to Steve. "Cap!"

Steve uses his shield to dismember the robot, once the shield goes through it I catch it from the other side and jump to use it to smash the last robot.

Frisby buds!

"That was dramatic! I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve?" Ultron says as he picks up one of the dismembered Iron Legions.

"With these? These puppets? There's only one path to peace: The Avengers' extinction."

I angrily throw the shield at his body and destroy it, Ultron eerily starts singing."I had strings, but now I'm free. There are no strings on me, no strings on me." Is that a Pinocchio song?

**********  
After cleaning out the area, well all head to the lab only to find the Scepter gone. "All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch." Bruce informs after he types away through the computer.

"Ultron." Steve scoffs with an unbelievable look.

"He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other." Nat adds as she puts down her phone.

Rhodey starts pacing around the lab. "He's in your files, he's in the internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"

Hill looks up from picking the glass on her feet. "Nuclear codes."

Rhodey nods. "Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can." He suggests.

Natasha looks at us as she recalls something. "Nukes? He said he wanted us dead."

"He didn't say dead. He said extinct." Steve corrects.

"He also said he killed somebody." Clints adds.

Everyone looks confused at the thought. "But there wasn't anyone else in the building."

Tony looks at me in realization. "Yes there was." He brings up the now destroyed 3D image of JARVIS' and Liz's consciousness.

I walk around the image and gape at it."This is insane." I didn't know technology could be this violent.

Steve looks over to me. "JARVIS and Liz were the first line of defense. They would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense."

"No, Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy, this is...rage." Bruce objects, and I agree with him. "He completely destroyed Liz, this is absolutely insane."

Thor enters the lab and grabs hold of Tony by his throat and holds him up.

"Woah, woah! Thor?!" I run after him.

"Come on. Use your words, buddy." Tony chokes out.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark." Thor threatens.

Steve steps up to him. "Thor! The Legionnaire." Thor hesitantly lets go of Tony. Cap is indeed the authoritative figure here.

"They've stolen the Scepter, now we have to retrieve it _again_." Thor glares at Tony.

The file!

I run out of the lab and leave the arguing voices behind me. "No, no, no." I keep muttering to myself as I quickly run down the stairs towards my guest room.

"Merly! Where are you going?" Steve calls out from behind me.

I push open the door with so much force that it dents the wall behind it. My room is a complete mess. The bed sheets are ripped, the mattress is on the floor at the other side of the room, the drawers are on the floor with papers laying around.

I drop to my knees and starts scavenging through the mess for the file. "Oh god no." Steve groans when he sees the mess.

I frustratingly run a hand through my hair. "Unbelievable. He took the file."

"How did he even know about it?" Steve asks as he picks up the mess.

"He probably used JARVIS and Liz to bypass security and overheard the conversations." I explain. "Steve, I need that file."

"Look it may not even be you." Steve starts but I interrupt him. "It doesn't matter if it's me or not, HYDRA created something out of their time. What do you think is gonna happen if that _thing_ is still alive and kept somewhere?"

He puts a hand on my shoulder. "Then we'll do something. Until then,we shouldn't stress about problems that haven't surfaced."

"I rather take the precaution and get a head start to win the fight." I argue, causing him to scoff. "That's cheating."

"It's not cheating. I'm just being a step ahead.


	19. Fears

"Hey, I think we might have something." Steve whispers as he shakes me awake. "Yeah, I'm coming just five more minutes please." I wave him off as I try to change my head position on the desk since I fell asleep after countless failures of trying to find a way to retrieve _Liz's_ back-up files, which had a back-up scan of the HYDRA file I found.

Steve chuckles and places a cup of coffee in front of my face. The smell dances around my nose, I reach over to grab it but Steve snatches it away. "Nooo." 

"Get up." Steve says as he walks to the door with the coffee in hand. The only way you can ever get me to wake up or do something, is if you offer some type of food.

"I hate you." I stick my tongue out at him as I snatch the coffee away from him. "You love me." He laughs as he puts an arm around me. I shrug at his response. "Not today spangles."

We walk into the lab along with Thor, he hands over the tablet to Tony by smacking it on his chest.

Tony groans and holds up the tablet. "What's this?" He asks, I peer over his shoulder easily as I take a sip of my coffee. He hates the fact that we're the same height and sometimes my boots make me look taller.

"A message." Steve answers. "Ultron killed Strucker." He adds looking at me. Ah shit! I was hoping to get the chance of interrogating that asshole to find out what happened to me in Sokovia.

"And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us." Tony chirps as he pulls up the image of Strucker's dead body. "Beautiful." I add.

Nat looks at us with a confused face as she thinks. "This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss." I state the obvious reason why anyone would go after Strucker. "I mean, he was the one who managed to achieve human enhancement."

Nat turns to her computer. "Yeah, I bet he... " She looks at the computer monitor. "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

I slump down on a chair. "Great."

"Not everything." Tony nods over to us to follow him.

He takes us to a lower office which contains old files. We each grab a box and go through the physical files they have on Strucker.

"Known associates. Well, Strucker had a lot of friends." Steve reads off the file next to me. He seriously hasn't left my side since he got me out of Sokovia. I'd be lucky if he'd let me go to the restroom alone.

"Well, these people are all horrible." Bruce says as he shivers at the images.

"Wait. I know that guy." Tony points over to the file in my hands.

I hand him the photo of the man. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." He says and Steve gives him an accusing look.

"There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything." He defends him self.

"Wow, how the times have changed." I quietly mutter to myself. His father went to science conventions while his son went to secret illegal black market conventions.

I flip the file over to read the name. "Ulysses Klaue."

"He was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very "Ahab." Tony says as he puts a hand on his chin as he thinks. He really does remind me of Howard.

Thor points to the scar on the back of Klaue's neck. "This."

"Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it..." Tony starts but I interrupt him when I notice the marking Thor pointed at. "No, those are tattoos, this is a brand."

Bruce scans and identifies the brand on Klaue's neck on the computer.

"Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way." He says.

"What dialect?" Steve asks as he puts down his file.

Bruce readjusts his glasses as he reads the screen. "Wakanada...? Wa...Wa...Wakanda."

Tony immediately turns to Steve and I. "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..."

"I thought your father said he got the last of it?" Steve says to him.

Bruce stares at us in confusion. "I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?"

I nod over looking at Steve's shield. "The strongest metal on earth." The Sceptre plus Vibranium equals no good.

I turn back to Tony. "Where is this guy now?"

********

"Don't compare me with Stark!" Ultron's voice booms through the nasty dark halls. "This place needs some serious maintenance." I mutter to the guys as we quietly creep up to some guards before taking them down.

We turn the corner and we spot Ultron kicking Klaue down the stairs. "It's a thing with me. Stark is, he's a sickness!" He yells. The only thing I'm thinking about right now is _'This Is Sparta!'_ after that kick.

"That's harsh." I whisper to Tony.

"Aww, Junior." Thor, Steve and I walk up right behind him. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."

"If I have to." Ultron simply answers unfaced by us.

Thor holds his hands up calmly. "We don't have to break anything."

"Clearly you've never made an omelet." Ultron retorts. Yep, he definitely takes after Tony.

Tony turns to us. "He beat me by one second." Like father like son.

Pietro walks up next to Ultron. "Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?" He says nodding over to the missiles bellow us. Talk about safety hazards.

Tony looks down for a moment "This was never my life." I know how much he deeply regrets what he did before he became the Iron Man.

Steve notices Tony's hesitation and looks over to the twins. "You two can still walk away from this."

Wanda fake pouts. "Oh, we will." She answers with a tone way too cocky for her to be using on her first mission ever.

"Watch your tone little girl. It might get you killed." I snap at her harshly, someone needs to teach these kids some manners before they realize the reality of what it's like being in the battlefield.

Steve shoots me a dirty look. "I know you've suffered." He attempts to talk out the twins.

Ultron scoffs at his attempt. "Uuughh! Captain America. God's righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..."

"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it." Thor interrupts him.

"I think you're confusing peace with quiet." Ultron says.

"Yuh-huh. What's the Vibranium for?" Tony asks nodding over to the vibranium Ultron is holding.

"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan!" Ultron says as he pushes Thor, Steve and I, backwards with a shockwave and pulls Tony with a magnetic wave.

Suddenly the stolen Iron Legions attack us. Immediately I pull out my Katana sword. It's not the type of weapon I usually carry, but I've chosen to keep a good distance from these robots during combat.

Tony chases Ultron while the rest of us split up to take down the Iron Legion bots and Klaue's men.

Steve and I stay back-to-back as we fight. "Steve I'm going after the Twins." I inform him as I dismember a robot with the Katana.

"No! It's too risky." He grunts as he pushes me out of the way from a robot's blast.

"Guys, how are we looking up there?" I ask Natasha and Clint over our earpiece. I throw my Katana straight and it impales two robots.

Pietro speeds past me and knocks me over the railings. "Son of a...ugh. I should've brought another sword." I grunt as I try to get back up.

"By the looks of it. We're doing better than you." Clint replies back. "Ha,ha." I sarcastically laugh.

Once I'm up, suddenly Pietro crashes into the crates a few feet behind me. Steve comes up and knocks him down again with his shield. "Stay down kid!" Both Steve and I say at the same time.

"It's time for some mind games." I overhear one of the robots say to Wanda.

I look around to see where she went but I can't see her. "Guys, is this a Code Green?" Bruce asks worried from the Quinjet. "Negative. Banner stay in the jet." I warn him, hoping he actually heard me, considering this place barely has any signal.

Two of Klaue's men come at me with guns blazing, I jump and flip behind some containers, surprisingly dodging every bullet. Ever since the whole Sokovia thing I've been much more faster and stronger than usual. But I'm not complaining. 

I roll over and grab my Katana from the floor and with it I block every bullet. "Awesome. I didn't know I could actually do that." The two men and I gape for a second before I knock them out.

"Hey Steve, you're not gonna believe what I..." I finally spot Wanda as she uses her powers on Thor but he pushes her out of the way.

Then Steve comes up to me. "Thor! Status?"

"The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care, I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty." Just then Thor seems to be in a painful daze.

I stare at him in confusion. "Thor?"

Just then I hear a repulsor being loaded behind me. I block the blast with my sword, but the impact blows away the sword. "Well there goes my awesomeness." I grab the robot's head with one hand and with the other I put my fist through its neck and rip it apart.

I turn around to help Steve only to be met face-to-face by Wanda, she waves her hand right in front of my face and it feels like someone is bashing my head with a hammer covered in needles, on fire. Seriously, it hurts like hell.

Tripping over my feet, I chase after her, but everything starts getting blurry. "Merly!?" A distant voice echoes behind me. 

As soon as I turn around, I am no longer where I was. 

_My hands immediately fly to mouth as I let out a loud gasp at the horrifying scene in front of me. Everything is destroyed and I'm surrounded by dead bodies._

_"Why didn't you do anything ?" Steve chokes out as he lays next to a broken shield._

_No.No.No. This isn't real, that shield is indestructible. This cannot be real. I would never let anything happen to any of them. Especially to Steve._

_A hand suddenly wraps around my leg. "You let them die."_

_"Bucky!?" I kneel down and caress his bloody face, as my eyes scan his body, I realize that his metal arm has been ripped away. "Oh my god!"_

_His hand then flies up to my neck and begins to strangle me with whatever strength he has left in him. "You're the real monster."_

_"Please. Let me save you." I beg him._

_"You can't save anyone!" He yells in so much rage._

_I push him away and I start having a panic attack. "This isn't real. This isn't real." I keep chanting with my eyes shut close as I desperately cover my ears to block the voices yelling. "You're a Killer!"_

_I dig my nails onto my arms that blood actually starts coming out.. "Wake up!" I yell to myself one last time and soon I'm sent back to reality._

Everyone around me is either on the ground hyperventilating or they're walking around like a drunk in a daze.

"Natasha, I could really use a lullaby." Tony startles me through my ear piece.

Clint-who is holding Natasha at the top of the stairs-looks at all of us laying on the ground trying to catch our breaths. "Well, that's not gonna happen. Not for a while. The whole team is down, you got no back up here."

"How bad is it ?" I ask Tony as I scramble for the exit.

"Uh..In all honesty, it's bad." He groans and I hear some screams in the background.

"I'm coming. Did you bring the suit?" I ask as I walk over to the Quinjet. "Yeah, but I called VERONICA so I think I might handle it on my own."

I stick an adrenaline injection into my thigh before putting on the extra Iron Man suit.

"Nope. I'm not letting you have all the fun." Their location pops up on the helmet's screen and I take off. Considering it's my first time ever using the suit, I'm doing pretty good at controlling it. Besides, I've always wanted to try on the Iron Man suit, because who doesn't?


	20. Safe House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merly breaks down and forgets about Steve's existence. And Thor destroys children's toys.

When I finally arrive at the scene, I find Tony wearing the Hulk buster armor. Which is awesome! "Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep!" He repeatedly punches the Hulk.

Since he is currently down, I immediately land and attempt to shoot the repulsors but I end up shooting some electroshock things, which does weaken the Hulk for a bit.

"Yeah, I totally meant to do that."

Tony immediately locks the Hulk's arm with his and then picks him up." Okay, pal, we're gonna get you out of town." As they head towards a building the Hulk keeps moving uncontrollably. " No, not that way, not that way!"

They crash through the building and I follow behind them as I warn people out of the way. "Get out of the way!"

"Come on, Bruce! You gotta work with me!"Tony yells as the Hulk continues to battle with him. I shoot the repulsors at him which pisses him off even more, causing him to throw a door at me and sending me crashing into and oncoming elevator.

The elevator's wires rip off and I reach to grab them before the people inside crash down."Everybody out! Going to get ugly!" I swing the elevator at the Hulk, but it only throws him off balance. Tony grabs the elevator and swings it again with much more force than I did.

Hulk crashes on the ground face first, he turns around and spits out a tooth and stares at us completely pissed off. "Shit."

"I'm sorry." Tony mutters the apology when the Hulk jumps at us again. As he claws at Tony's armor, I grab a nearby old van and fly towards them. "Bruce!" I call out causing him to roar at me. "He doesn't like puny Banner." Tony warns before I smash the van onto the Hulk. We both grab either hand of the Hulk and we start dragging/flying him away.

"Damage report." Tony asks. I can see what he sees because of VERONICA. His damaged screen just buzzes. "That's comprehensive. Show me something." The computer shows us the building ahead is clear of civilians. "How quickly can we buy this building?" Tony asks heading straight to it.

"No. Tony, it's in the middle of the town. We need to get the edge as much as possible." I start shooting some sort of smoke that's supposed to freeze the Hulk. "VERONICA give me a boost." I order, and instantly new parts start attaching to my suit.

 _"That building is scheduled to be taken down soon."_ VERONICA shows us an abandoned building right near the edge of the town. Tony and I start lifting the Hulk as high as possible in order to knock out the Hulk with the impact. I move out of the way as Tony drops the Hulk through the building completely destroying it; at the same time the army people arrive to intervene. A little late don't you think?

The Hulk comes out from under the rubble and stares at the frightened civilians running for their lives; he seems to be coming out of Wanda's mind-hold but once the soldiers load their guns, he roars and just before he can do anything, Tony knocks him out cold.

The soldiers start yelling at us in their language but neither Tony or I understand what they're saying. I look over to Tony. "Uh...we should go." He nods. "Agreed." We start pulling the now human Bruce Banner. The soldiers continue to yell at us angrily now. "Sorry. There's a tank, I can't hear you." I call out before flying away to the Quinjet.

With Banner back to normal and everybody back on the Quinjet, we immediately take off.

************

" The news is loving you guys. Nobody else is. There's been no official call for Banner's arrest, but it's in the air." Agent Hill informs us.

I can't believe a pair of teenagers and a robot took us down in a matter of minutes. Us! The freakin Avengers!

Well, maybe it was because Klaue's men were also there so I guess you can blame them too...

"How are you feeling ?" Steve asks as he takes a seat next to me. I shrug and look up to him. "Just a little ache, no big deal. What about you ?"

"Well, I'll eventually recover, so no big deal." He says. "Whatever she made us see had to be a big deal. If it wasn't, then we wouldn't be this shaken up." I tell him.

"How's the team?" I hear Hill ask. I look around and everyone looks pretty much traumatized. "Everyone's...we took a hit. We'll shake it off." I tell her as I try to get up from my seat. My whole body aches now that the adrenaline has worn off.

She sighs and nods. "Well for now I'd stay in stealth mode, and stay away from here."

Tony scoffs."So, run and hide?" Hill rolls her eyes. "Until we can find Ultron, I don't have a lot else to offer." Tony sighs in defeat. "Neither do we." He switches off the monitor showing Maria ending the call. He walks over to Clint, who's currently flying the Quinjet. "Hey, you wanna switch out?"

Clint waves him away. "No, I'm good. If you wanna get some kip, now's a good time, cause we're still a few hours out."

"A few hours from where?" I ask intrigued by this.

"A safe house."

*******

Clint lands the Quinjet outside a large farmhouse, and we all exit the jet. Both Steve and Thor immediately take stand on either side of me as we walk towards the house. Honestly, I think it's cute when they get overprotective.

Thor looks around confused like the rest of us. "What is this place?"

"A safe house?" Tony answers but it comes out more as a question. "Let's hope." Clint mutters. He opens the house door and leads us in. "Honey, I'm home." He calls out. Honey? Is this guy joking around?

A heavily pregnant woman walks out from the kitchen. Holy mother of god!

Clint walks over to her. "Hi. Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead." She happily smiles at him. "Hey." She greets him and then kisses him. OK,WHAT!?

Tony turns to Thor to explain. "This is an agent of some kind."

"Gentleman..." I clear my throat loudly to correct him. "...and woman, this is Laura." He introduces her.

I wave at her awkwardly. "I know all your names." She says and the rest of us just keep staring at her awkwardly.

From the back of the house I hear fast incoming footsteps. I tense up and Clint just shakes his head. "Ooh, incoming." Then two kids come rushing in and attack Clint with hugs. _They Founded ?_

I turn to Steve to see his reaction and he looks semi-confused, surprised, and shocked all together. And quite frankly I don't blame him.

"Did you.." He starts but I cut him off. "I didn't even think he had a life outside of SHIELD."

"Dad!" The girl squeals as he picks her up. "I see her!" He then kisses the top his son's head. "Hey, buddy! How you guys doing? Ooh..."

We all just stare at them surprised. "These are...smaller agents." Tony explains to the very confused Thor.

Clint's eyes practically glow with happiness. "Look at your face! Oh, my goodness!"

The girl lets go of Clint and looks around. "Did you bring Auntie Nat?"

Natasha gets up from the couch and plasters a smile to hide the pain we all endured a few hours ago. "Why don't you hug her and find out?" The girl rushes towards Natasha who picks her up in her arms.

I squint my eyes at Nat. "This bitch." I mutter and she just smirks.

I raise my hands in defeat. "Anyone else have kids?" I mutter and stare mostly at Tony.

He feigns hurt. "How dare you say such thing."

"What about Spangles? He might even end up being HYDRA." Tony teases causing Steve to scoff.

"Sorry for barging in on you." Steve apologizes to Laura.

"Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed." Tony adds as he shoots Clint a look.

Clint just smiles and puts an arm around his wife. "Yeah, well Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD's files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low." Ahh makes sense. I too would keep my family off the radar, but I don't have one so... one less thing to worry about.

Suddenly I hear a cracking noise beneath us. I take a look and see that Thor has broken a tiny lego house and is now kicking it under the coffee table.

Steve and I look at him and he just looks away like nothing ever happened.

"Umm, uh Hi." A small voice interrupts us. I give the girl a smile and a small 'Hi' while Thor stares at her emotionless.

"Hi, what's your name?" I kindly ask her. "Lila." She answers and I can clearly sense her excitement and nervousness.

Thor suddenly walks out of the house without saying a word. I excuse myself and follow after him to make sure he doesn't go out to kill the animals or something.

"Thor?" He stops and turns to me midway. "I saw something in that dream. I need answers. I won't find them here."

I nod understanding his situation. "We all need answers but that doesn't mean we should split up. Especially now."

"It's not that simple and I don't expect you understand." He snaps.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I cross my arms and walk closer to him now.

"There are stronger beings out there that the Avengers can't take on their own." He explains.

"Then we'll deal with it later." I try to convince him to stay.

"I can also help you." He adds after a short pause. "I know how important it is to you to know the truth."

I look at him with causion to see any signs that might tell me he's lying. "And how exactly do you plan on doing it?"

He then explains that he's going to see Dr.Selvig to get help on doing a dream water ritual thing.

He puts a hand on my shoulder. "Come with me."

I turn back to look at the house and see Steve standing at the stairs as he talks with Lila. "I have to keep an eye on them." I turn him down.

He nods understanding. "Alright then, Do you have anything meaningful with you ?"

I lify my left hand. "Uh.. yeah, my ring but..."

"Great." He takes the ring off my finger and in instinct I pull it away. "Why do you need it?" I eye him suspiciously.

"I need it to access your subconscious in order to help you know about your past." He reassures me. "It's almost like an emotional tether."

Hesitantly I hand him over the ring. "Alright. But you better not lose it or I will shave your head in your sleep." I threaten causing him to look at me a bit alarmed.

"I promise I will not lose it." He smiles and reassures me before flying away.

*******

"Would you like to make some cookies?" Lila asks as soon as I walk back inside.

Laura immediately stops her. "Oh no, no, you don't have to."

I smile at Lila. "It's ok. Although I'm gonna warn you I haven't made cookies in decades." _Literally_. Lila just laughs and drags me into the kitchen.

"We can make chocolate chip or sprinkles." She says as she tries to reach the cabinets. "Why not both?" Since she can't reach them, I lift her up and she squeals before excitedly pulling out stuff from the cabinets.

Laura enters the kitchen a few minutes later. "Um Ms.Raven... I have some extra clothes that might fit you."

She hands me some clothes. "Oh, no you didn't have to."

"Nonsense. You guys save the world every other day. It's the least I can do." She says.

"Thank you." I smile to Laura gratefully. "Hey, Lila I'll be right back alright." She nods repeatedly as she searches for a cookbook.

I walk into the guest room and as soon as the door closes, all sound is blocked away and I'm immediately hit with the wave of feeling vulnerable and helpless.

My eyes start watering and my breaths start getting shorter in the thick silence. I haven't had any anxiety attacks in a long time. Bucky or Steve were always there to calm me down, but right now I don't have anything to help me.

I have no one.


	21. Water of Sight

"So how old are you exactly?" Lila asks me out of nowhere.

I purse my lips and look at her with a thinking face. "Pretty old."

"Like a 100 years old?" She asks with no filter whatsoever. Just like Clint. "Almost." I simply answer.

"And this cookie dough is gonna be a 100 years old if we don't put it in the oven now." I nod over to the tray full of chocolate chip cookies.

"Right. So we put them in for a few minutes?" She asks me as I place the trays in the oven. "I thought you were the expert baker here?" I turn to her as we stare at the timer.

She turns to me confused. "I thought _you_ were the expert here." I chuckle at her expression. "No. I said I hadn't baked in almost 70 years." Her face is immediately covered in shock. "Wow, that's a really long time." She mutters before looking into the cookbook.

 _"_ _Thor didn't say where he was going for answers?"_ I over hear Tony from outside.

" _Sometimes my teammates don't tell me things. I was kind of hoping Thor would be the exception."_ Steve answers at bit bitterly, which makes me feel guilty for all the secrets I've been keeping from him. I just really don't want him stressing out over something about me.

"Hey, Lila I'm gonna go check up on Iron Man and Captain America." She nods. "Okay I'm gonna go check up on aunty Nat too!" She runs off to the room where Nat is in.

I open the creaky fence door on my way out. " _Yeah, give him time. We don't know what the Maximoff kid showed him."_ Tony sighs.

 _"Earth's Mightiest Heroes." Pulled us apart like cotton candy."_ Steve adds, only making me feel a hell of a lot worse as I walk down each bloody step towards them.

 _"Seems like you and Raven walked away all right."_ Tony says a bit skeptical. Thank you for dragging me into this Stark.

Steve pauses for a moment. "Is that a problem ?" I cross my arms once I'm behind them.

Tony flinches and manages to compose himself before turning around to face me. "I don't trust a guy without a dark side. Call me old fashioned."

"Well let's just say you haven't seen it yet." I raise an eyebrow at him as Steve answers truthfully. Lets just hope that we never show that side of us, _ever._

Tony scoffs under his breath at Steve's answer. "You know Ultron is trying to tear us apart, right ?"

I grab a piece of unchopped wood and I use it as a stool to sit on. "Well I guess you'd know. Whether you tell us is a bit of a question." Steve tells Tony and glances at me for a short second. OhGod! Please stop making me feel so bad Steve, I did not just make four dozen cookies for your grumpy ass.

"That's the effective plan. Attack from inside not from outside." I tell them as I vividly remember the shit that went down in D.C "To betray you must first belong." I add.

Tony drops his axe and starts walking closer to me. "Banner and I were doing research."

Steve grabs another piece of wood ready to chop. "That would affect the team."

I sit there and listen tentatively as they argue back and forth. "That would end the team. Isn't that the mission? Isn't that the _'why'_ we fight, so we can end the fight, so we get to go home?"

Steve grabs yet another piece of wood and tears it in half with his bare hands, causing me to flinch at the angry tension. "Every time someone tries to win a war before it starts, innocent people die." He looks at me at the last part. "Every time." I look down to the dirt in shame.

Okay. That was obviously aimed at me for what I told him earlier about being one step ahead in the fight.

For a moment I debate whether or not to straight up confront him _or_ if I should go back inside where there's cookies and peace.

Thankfully Laura shows up and interrupts us by asking Tony to fix their tractor, which is a lie since I heard her heart skip a beat. "Spies." I mutter to under my breath.

I look back to Steve and he frustratedly runs a hand through his dirty blonde hair. The frustrated tension is just unbearable.

Not once have I ever gone against Steve. But now it feels like the more I dig into my past, the more we start drifting apart. Which is one of my biggest fears.

Losing him too.

********

Steve places his communication device in his ear. "I'll take Natasha and Clint." He tells Tony as we get ready to leave.

Tony nods as he fixes his jacket. "Alright, strictly recon. I'll hit the NEXUS, I'll join you as soon as I can."

"If Ultron is really building a body..." I start to lean on the doorway. "He'll be stronger and maybe more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us, considering he still has the Sceptre."

"An android designed by a robot." Steve scoffs.  
"You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was us two." Steve states not once looking at me.

"Good old days." I mutter.

"I'll drop Banner and Raven off at the tower. Do you mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?" Fury walks in an puts on his coat.

"She's all yours, apparently. What are you gonna do?" Tony asks. Fury smirks at us. "I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope." He opens the door and gestures me to follow him.

I turn back to Steve one last time as I fix my holster. "I'll go get Thor then I'll join you as soon as possible."

He just gives me a tense nod without even looking at me. And it absolutely breaks my heart all over again. I clench my jaw at how pissed off I am at myself and all the shit that we've been through. I walk out the door with looking at anyone and without another word.

********  
After Fury dropped me off at the tower, I immediately got aboard another Quinjet and headed for Thor.

"Lady Raven! Glad you could make it." Thor greets me at the entrance of some creepy cave.

"Nice to see you again Ms.Raven." Dr.Selvigs puts his hand out and I shake it. "Nice to see you too Doc."

Thor claps his hands together. "Well shall we get started?"

"He's a little eager." I mutter to Selvig causing him to chuckle.

"This is it. The Water of Sight." We stop at the edge of the water.

"Sight? You think it call tell me where a _certain someone_ is?" I ask Thor.

Thor shake his head, dammit. "In every realm, there's a reflection. If the water spirits accept me, I can return to my dream, and find what I missed."

"The men who enter that water, the legends don't end well." Selvig adds to the mix of this horrible plan.

After Selvig continues to explain the dangerous ritual to us, I just keep looking at him awkwardly. "This is the worst plan ever."

"Well it's the only plan we've got so far." Thor replies as he starts undressing. I look at both of them and clear my throat loudly so that they can both get the message to turn around.

"Uhh... right, yes, of course." Thor stutters and they both turn around as I begin to undress. Worst plan ever. Not to mention Bucky and Steve would kill me for doing this, especially Bucky, he would be absolutely livid.

"It's cold. It's cold." I hiss as I step into the water first. Once Thor gets in, he gives me a nod and we go under the water and wait in silence for a few seconds before we start getting killer headaches. When I open my eyes it feels like someone is stabbing my eyes with a hot knife.

** (  ** _This - > _ _ 〰 _ __ _means time skip in her vision_ **)**

Suddenly images start flashing through my mind, but they're of a woman I've never seen before. She's tied to a medical bed and she keeps screaming every time the doctors inject her everywhere, mostly on her stomach, not at the same time of course. I know it's happening over a long period of time becuase her belly keeps getting bigger, which means she's pregnant. 〰"The procedure is almost done." An all too familiar voice says.

"Zola." I gasp at the sight of him and Red Skull.〰"It'll be half genetic due to the alterations made while in the womb." One of the scientists explains as they look at some files. 〰Red Skull then picks up a crying baby and smiles at it. "You have created a miracle, Doctor."

Zola stares at the baby as it begins to calm down from its crying. "The perfect soldier." He mutters.

The vision is then cut short when one of Thor's lightning hits me, stinging me back to consciousness. Dr. Selvig immediately pulls me out of the water and puts a jacket over me as I gasp for air.

"Oh, jesus! Are you okay? Are you still human ?" Dr.Selvig stutters out as he pulls out a bandage to put on my collarbone, since it was struck by Thor's lighting. I let out a muffled hiss when the bandage makes contact with my skin.

Dr.Selvig gives me a worried look. "It'll heal." I reassure him.

A few seconds later Thor comes back to consciousness too. "How long were we in there?" I ask Selvig.

He looks at his watch and then looks back up to us warily. "About three hours."

"What?!" I gasp in shock."We were under water for that long?"

"Like I said before. Magical dream water." Selvig says.

"We were in there for hours and all I saw was a few seconds of a vision that I didn't even understand." I groan as I readjust myself on the rock.

"No. You only saw fragments because I still had your ring. So I saw everything for you." Thor says and I instantly snatch is away from him. "What did you see?"

"Well..to keep it simple.You're not entirely human." He then begins to explain to me what he saw and who the woman was and _what_ she was. I groan at every thing he reveals to me. I am that baby freak experiment. "Well,Shit."

And the only other thing that comes to mind is one person whom I should've expected.

Loki.


	22. Vision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of people are still horndogs for Loki.

_(Flashback)_

_"Hello darling." Loki greets me as he bows down._ _In return, I give him an odd look and him a small wave._

_"You know...I never thought that I'd ever meet a god." I tell him as I stand near the panel of his cell._

_He gives me a warm smile and chuckles. "Well, I am the god of mischief. Not exactly the type of god your kind worship."_

_I nod in agreement. "Nowadays people will worship anyone and anything as long as they get what they want."_

_"Like women worshipped you when you gave them a voice." He says. I give him a confused look as to how he knows so much about me without ever actually meeting me. But he's a god, so maybe the spy on us...?_ _Isn't that what they do to answer 'prayers' ?_

_"I help and don't expect worship in return, unlike you." I tell him._

_He smirks at me as he walks closer to the cell window. " Oh darling. You and I have more in common than you do with your colorful friends."_

_I roll my eyes at his response. "Oh really?"_

_He chuckles and nods. "Yes indeed, Merly."_

_I squint my eyes suspiciously at him since I never actually told him my real name. "Care to explain just how much we have in common."_

_He continues to smirk at me, and it's creeping me out. "You are a mystery to others. Your past is something that will only make you unworthy to others."_

_With each word, he steps closer to the glass as I also subconsciously walk closer to him. He looks down to me with amazement in his eyes. "You and I are one of a kind."_

_"I'm just a simple human with high responsibilities." I simply reply as I look down for a moment. Maybe he's just getting into my head just to mess with me._

_"You are more than just a regular human being darling." He looks at me sincerely now._

_Jesus christ! This guy is confusing me with his rapid change of emotions. And he's being too nice to me_ _when he usually is being rude to others._

_"You are a rare being that I have been honored to meet." He says._

_"I am a being who knows nothing about herself." I honestly tell him as I fiddle with my hands behind my back._

_"I know. And I don't highly recommend you look deep into it if you want them to trust you." He advices me quietly, barely above a whisper._

_"But it's the only thing I've been searching for." I tell him._

_He sighs. "Looking farther into it will only make things worse."_

_"Why are you telling me this ?" I finally ask him._

_"Because you are the only one who will understand." He simply says._

_I shrug."Not everyone sees what I see. We all see different things."_

_"Raven! Report to the lab now!" Fury interrupts me through my earpiece._

_I clap my hands together and do a small bow before walking backwards. "Well it's been a good chat but I have to go."_

_"He's a ghost." Loki suddenly says._ _I turn back to him and eye him suspiciously. "Who is?"_

_He just waves a a hand over to my ring. "_ **_He_ ** _is a ghost. And Ghosts always tend to come back."_

_My head clouds with a mix of emotions. No matter where I go, something or someone will remind me of what happened._   
_"I don't believe in ghosts."_

_"You will soon enough." He smirks again._

_"Darling."_

*******

(Present time)

"Thor are you sure about this?" I ask him as I try to cover the bandages with my jacket.

"Yes." He simply answers.

God! These bandages are really itchy.

I turn back to Thor. "I mean we're talking about creating a life."

He doesn't answer as he stares at the elevator's floor number screen.

"It's like having a baby. It's a huge commitment." I tell him and suddenly I hear some commotion upstairs as we get closer to the lab.

As soon as the doors open, Thor and I sprint out to were all the commotion is coming from. "Stop! Tony!" I yell to both Tony and Steve as they fight across the lab.

Steve jumps to stop Thor as he summons his lightning. "No don't!" I hold up my hands to stop everyone from moving.

Steve just gives me an accusing stare.

Yup, I'm so dead after this.

Bruce throws Wanda off to the side and rushes towards the cradle. "No! Wait! " I rush to catch her before she faceplants the floor.

"Whoa..wait? For what?"

After Thor struck the cradle with his hammer, a few seconds go by of pure confused silence when suddenly a red robot-like man jumps out from the cradle and throws Thor back before flying away into the living room.

He comes to a halt near the window and stares outside in curiosity. I move Wanda behind me as we cautiously walk into the living room.

This is going to be way more complicated than dealing with a _human_ baby, how are the Avengers supposed to raise a robot and apparently two teenagers at the same time?

"That was odd. Thank you." Vision nods to Thor.

The rest of the Avengers stare at the three of us in confusion, giving us a look that demands answers.

Steve takes a few steps closer to me. "Thor, you helped create this?"

Thor nods and points to the gem on Vision's head. "I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at it's center is that."

Bruce turns to me. "What, the gem?"

I then explain to him what Thor explained to me earlier. "It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."

"Then why would you bring it to..." Steve lashes out on me but Thor steps between us. "Because Stark is right."

Bruce just purses his lips. "Oh, it's definitely the end times."  
"Definitely." I mutter.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron." Thor explains. "Not alone." Vision adds standing next to me.

Steve then huffs and turns to Tony. "Why does your _'Vision'_ sound like JARVIS?"

Tony visibly swallows a slump down his throat. "We...we reconfigured JARVIS' matrix to create something new." He stutters out.

Steve then glares at me. "I think I've had my fill of new."

Vision looks around the room. "You think I'm a child of Ultron?" Steve carefully walks closer to him. " You're not?"

Vision shakes his head. "I'm not Ultron. I'm not JARVIS either. I am...I am."

Wanda walks up from behind Pietro. "I looked in your head and saw annihilation."

"Look again." Vision simply answers.

Clint scoffs loudly. "Yeah. Her seal of approval means jack to me." That man still hates the Maximoffs. I guess it's the stress finally catching up to him. I mean there's Ultron, Nat is gone, and he has a pregnant wife waiting at home. I too would eventually blow up from the stress.

I hold up my hands in caution to calm them down before we start killing each other. "Their powers.." I point to the twins.

"..the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone, and they're nothing compared to what it might unleash. But with it on our side..."

"Is it? Are you? On our side?" Steve rudely interrupts me.

"I don't think it's that simple."

Clint then interrupts Vision by snapping at him."Well it better get real simple real soon."

What's with the attitude with everyone?

"I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't, he will end it all." Vision somehow maintains his cool.

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asks.

"Us. All of us." I tell them. Cute right? He only wants us to be there, so he can _KILL_ us.

"Where?" Bruce asks looking around for anyone who might have an idea. "Sokovia. He's got Nat there too." I inform them as I point to my watch that Nat and I agreed to use to communicate in case of emergencies. It works as coded communication, it's like our own little enigma code.

"If we're wrong about you, if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be..." Bruce warns.

"What will you do?" Vision looks at them all realizing they won't destroy him. At least I hope not.  
"I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique, and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net, we have to act now. "

"And not one of us can do it without the others." I add for encouragement.

"Exactly. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go." He holds up Thor's hammer and hands it to him, and walks off as we all stare at him in shock.

  
What...the..


	23. You Rise...

We all prepare to exit the Quinjet and Steve starts giving his speech about the plan. "Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire, and that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out."

"All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done, and find out what Ultron's been building." I add to the speech.

Steve nods and keeps on going. "We find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters and we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right." He looks at both Tony and I at the last part of the speech.

Once Steve finds out what I really am, then he'll know that Ultron was only right about me.

"Pietro you go warn the police stations to evacuate the city as fast as possible." He nods before speeding away. "And Wanda, you better not rip my jacket."

I attach two escrima sticks to the back of my suit. They're similar to ones I gave Natasha for Christmas, except mine are slightly longer and can do more things like electroshock and shockwaves.

"Let's go be heroes." We each head a different direction and start evacuating the city.

I take a few streets down from where the church is. "Alright people come on! hustle! hustle!" I wave at the cars through to avoid causing traffic. "This way!" I wave the people through the side of the roads.

Distant screaming is suddenly heard, everyone stops what they're doing and quietly listens to the sound of metal against metal, another robot flies right above our heads and that's when everyone panics and starts running away.

I begin clawing my way through the freaked out people until I finally reach the chaotic scene. There, I find a few upgraded legion bots attacking the people.

I pull out my escrima sticks and swing them around as I dodge their blasts. "Everyone get out of here! Go now!"

I swing my escrima stick at the robot's arm and chop it off, then kick my leg back to push away the robot behind as I finish his other buddy.

Two more robots come my way at full speed. I jump off from a car and jump-spin as I slice their bodies in half. Once I land on the ground I crush their heads with my foot to make sure they don't keep flying around.

"Raven, go to the church and distract Ultron until Vision gets there." Tony tells me through my earpiece.

"On it!" I reply before rolling out of the way from an incoming blast. I rip a car door off and I throw it at two bots coming, the door impales them against a wall. "You're a killer." One of them glitches before shutting down.

"Wouldn't be surprised." I breathe out.

"Alright people! Keep moving!" I point the directions for people to escape.

Just a few feet away from the church and I can already tell Ultron has upgraded himself. "Have you come to confess your sins?" Ultron greets me.

I tighten my grip on the escrimas as I walk closer to him. "Depends on how much time you have."

"More than you." He replies.

"Aww, Junior. I think I've had more time on this world than you have." I scoff at him.

"Yet you still haven't seen your mistakes.Typical." He takes a few steps to look outside the church.

I maintain a close eye on him. "Trust me, I have. But you don't see me blowing up shit and killing people because of it."

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, _as if he needs it,_ I internally roll my eyes at him. "The world needs to evolve." He opens he eyes are abruptly turns to me. "You've had your fair share of evolving."

"But not enough to satisfy you." Okay, that might've sounded kind of wrong.

He raises his voice and begins walking my way until he's towering over me. "You're a sinner. You're the killer you were made to be." He spits bitterly.

I take a step back and try to show no emotion."You seem to know more about me than I do."

"I know more than all of you." He chuckles.

"Well since you said we're going to be extinct in a few hours, minutes maybe...care to share just how much you know about me." I challenge him to buy some more time for Vision, and also for my benefit.

"That little file is long gone. But I'll let you know that Strucker created the twins after you." Ultron tells me.

"Why?" I ask subconsciously letting my guard down.

He starts laughing, and honestly it's really creepy to hear a murder bot laugh. "While your lover is known is known as the _Fist of HYDRA,_ You are known as the _Miracle of HYDRA_. "

"Lover?" I pathetically feign a confused face.

"Okay now you're obviously stalling." He yells at me and I smirk. "That was the plan, or did you forget?" Immediately, Vision flies at him and places his hands on Ultron's head to burn him out of the net.

I put on the glasses Tony gave me and I start scanning the area. Right beneath me is a tube-like contraption that Ultron most likely built for his _evil_ plan. _"There's the rest of the Vibranium. Function: Unknown."_ FRIDAY tells me as she relays the message to Tony.

"You shut me out." Ultron gasps behind and grabs the weakened Vision. "You think I care!" He yells in anger as he smashes Vision against the church wall and then slamming him onto the ground. I take a few cautious steps backwards.

Vision remains unconscious after those blows. "Shit." I mutter to myself. If he took Vision down, then I'm screwed.

What am I going to do now ? He's made entirely of Vibranium.

The underground contraption he built suddenly bursts out and before he can do anything I throw three electroshock discs at him and pull out my guns.

I keep shooting at him mostly on his face. "This is like a boss battle. Just go at him with all you got." I mutter to myself for encouragement but when has that ever helped?

Ultron holds up his hand and blindingly aims at me and blasts me away, crashing me into an abandoned bus. "Now I know how Steve felt." Immediately I crawl out through a broken window and wipe some blood from my brow.

"You take away my world." Ultron shakes his head before placing his hand above the contraption and looking directly at me.

"NO!" I yell at him.

"I take away yours." Just as he turns the knob I shoot him again.

Everything around us starts shaking as if the city was coming to life. Eventually I lose balance fall down on my knees. Ultron grabs me and starts flying upwards.

I try to contain my gasp at the sight of the city rising every second. "Do you see? The beauty of it, the inevitability. You rise, only to fall." From here I can see the rest of my teammates trying to save as much people as they can.

"You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure." He flies us directly above the church and holds me up by the throat. I take a peek down and realise that he drops me I am so gone.

"Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal." He practically spits at my face before throwing me back down, he couldn't have just simply dropped me. Nooo, he had to throw me like a freaking rag doll.

My insides begin to feel like they have gathered up into a little ball inside my chest as I keep falling.

I close my eyes as the ground gets closer to me, a small yelp escapes my trembling lips when something crashes against me, sending us through a building. "Ms.Raven all you alright?"

"Vision! Oh I'm glad you're alive." I pry off my arms from around him. "Yes, I am alright Ms.Raven." He puts out a hand and helps me stand up.

I grab his hand and I drag him outside the destroyed building. "Come on, we have to shut down that thing." Vision and I try our best to shut it down, but it's of no use.

"Raven! Are you alright?" Steve asks me. "Yeah, I'm fine. But we can't shut off this thing that's making the city fly." I reply back.

" _The Vibranium core has got a magnetic field, that's what's keeping the rock together." FRIDAY_ informs me.

"If it drops?" I ask her.

_"_ _Right now the impact would kill thousands. Once it gets high enough: Global extinction."_

"Shit, shit, shit!" I huff out in panic.

I take a deep breath and look around as the buildings start cracking and collapsing. "Let's go save some people." I tell Vision and we both go opposite ways. Once I reach the bridge where most of the robots are, I spot Steve struggling to keep some bots off his back. "Cap, you got incoming." I warn him.

He turns around a second too late. "Incoming already came in." He huffs out.

"Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed... walk it off." Steve tells everyone.

"Great! I'm bloody inspired." I mutter under my breath but Steve still hears me and shoots me a glare. "I'm kidding." I tell him.

Two cars near the edge of the still-collapsing bridge start to roll down, Steve and I rush to their aid, we each grab the bumper of the cars to pull them back but they competely rip off as something swoshes by us at full speed, that something being Thor. I throw the bumper off to the side and look down to see Thor about to throw us the lady who was falling along with her car.

Steve jumps to catch her and I jump to help him climb back up.  
A robot sneaks up behind me so I grab Steve's shield from his back and throw it at the bot.

Another robot rises from behind him and jumps onto my back. "You can't save them all. You'll never... " Steve prys the bot off my back and throws it off the edge of the bridge.

"You'll never what? You didn't finish!" Steve mocks it. Thor then lands on the bridge a few feet away from us on the top of the car I failed to save. "What, were you napping?"

We turn around and see three legion bots coming our way, I slide over Steve's shield and he kicks it upward then Thor strikes it with his hammer and sends the shield straight through the three bots.

"That was pretty cool." I tell them. "Yup." They both nod.

We get back-to-back and continue fighting the robots.   
" Alright, we're all clear here." Clint reports to us.

"We are not clear!" I yell back to him. "We are very not clear!" Steve replies back aswell as he fights a group of robots on his own and as I'm also fighting three robots at the same time, another one comes in from behind me and blasts me away into a car. I'm definitely going to have a few broken ribs after this.

The four robots come at me again but Natasha rolls in on time to help me. "Stop sleeping on the job." She tells me.

"Haha." I fake laugh along with some pained grunts. I put one of my escrima sticks through one of the bot's head and rip it through. "The escrimas are really nice." Nat tells me as she fights her own bots. "You're welcome, you know...I should be your bestfriend instead of _Hawkeye._ " I tease knowing Clint is listening through our comm.

"Whatever, I know her better than you do." Clint replies. "That's because I mind my own bussines." I tell him as I continue chasing robots.

"You guys should make your own superhero bird club." Natasha suggests. "I mean, you already have three potential members." She adds causing me to chuckle.

"Raven!" Steve suddenly calls out as he throws me his shield. I catch it time to block some blasts, then I crouch down and run towards the bots as they keep blasting at me.

I prepare my escrima sticks to electroshock mode and swipe them across their abdomens as I pivot around. I hold up the shield to my side and knock down another incoming bot.

"Where's Thor ?" I ask Steve once he reaches me and I return him his shield. "He went to fight Ultron." Nat replies.

Suddenly a group of robots turn and head in the direction towards the church. Steve and Nat look at me. "I got it." I sigh before jogging after the robots.

I successfully take down every bot on my way to the church, where Ultron is currently beating the crap out of Thor.

Without thinking, I run over to Mjolnir who is off to the side in the rubble, I grab its cold handle and surprisingly I manage to lift it although it's a bit heavy even with my super strength.

Thor makes eye contact with me and he's shocked just as I am. I signal Thor to keep on talking so I can get a good aim at Ultron.

"You think you're saving anyone? I turn that key and drop this rock a little early and it's still billions dead. Even you can't stop that." Ultron holds up Thor by the throat.

I climb up the church wall as fast as I can while Thor stalls Ultron. "I am Thor, son of Odin, and as long as there is life in my breast, I am...running out of things to say! Are you ready?"

Ultron turns around just as I jump and swing the hammer as hard as I can and send him flying away. Swinging Mjolnir feels like pulling something away from a magnet, there's like and invisible force helping you get a strong swing.

I toss Thor his hammer back, I could keep it and rule Asgard but that would be unworthy of me. "That thing is terribly well balanced."

Thor nods and spins the hammer in his palm. "Well, if there's too much weight, you lose power on the swing, so."


	24. ...Only to Fall

"The next wave's gonna hit any minute. What have you got, Stark?" Steve's voice rings through my ear piece after Ultron crashes somewhere away from us.

"Well, nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear." Tony tells us one of his ideas.

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan." Steve replies.

Tony sighs."Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're going to have to make a choice."

Thor and I continue fighting a few stray bots. "Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock..."

"Not 'til everyone's safe." Steve replies to me.

Natasha can be heard scoffing through the ear piece. "Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there."

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it." Steve explains.

"I didn't say we should leave." Nat quietly replies back to us.

I nod even though they can't see me. "There's worse ways to go." I agree with them. And also because I've been watching Game of Thrones with Sam.

"Yeah, besides where else am I gonna get a view like this? Natasha adds.

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better." Fury suddenly announces as the Helicarrier starts being visible over the edge of the flying city.

"Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do." Fury says and I can already hear his smirk through the ear piece.

"About time you showed up." I tell Fury as Thor and I stand side-by-side, watching the people start boarding the rescue carriers.

"I told you it was going to be dramatic." Fury chuckles. Thor looks over at me and smiles. "You are always full of surprises aren't you."

I chuckle and nod. "Meh, just dramatic moments, it's what we do."

Thor shakes his head and scoffs. "We're not dramatic."

I raise and eyebrow at him. "You're the _mighty Thor,god of thunder, son of odin_ and your brother Loki _god of mischief_ was overdramatic most of the time, way too Shakespearean for me. And we always happen to show up just in time to save the day."

"Not this time." Tony interrupts me as he lands a few feet away from me. "Why not?"

 _"The anti-gravs are rigged to flip. Touch 'em, they'll go full reverse thrust. The city's not coming down slow." FRIDAY_ answers me.

"The spire's Vibranium. If we get Thor to hit it..." I start suggesting some ideas off the top of my head but FRIDAY quickly shuts them down. " _It'll crack, but that's not enough, the impact would still be devastating."_

Tony snaps his fingers as soon as an idea pops into that head of his."Maybe if we cap the other end, keep the atomic action doubling back."

Wait...I see where he's going with this and there are many dangerous outcomes for it. "Yeah, that could destroy the anti-gravs but..."

 _"_ _That could vaporize the city, and everyone on it."_ FRIDAY interrupts me once again.

"You just love being a pessimist don't you FRIDAY." I scoff at Tony's suit since FRIDAY doesn't have a physical form.

_"I am an AI I only..."_

"Use equations and other crap, yeah I know. But I know the more mystical and supernatural side of it." I for once get the chance to shut up one of Tony's AIs. It feels good to be the smart one for a few seconds at least.

"I got it! Create a heat seal instead of capping it. You can..." I start explaining my last idea and Tony continues for me. "...I can supercharge the spire from below."

_"Running numbers."_

"A heat seal could work with enough power." I suggest pointing at Tony's arc reactor and Thor's hammer.

I throw my fists in the air when FRIDAY doesn't turn down my plan. "Okay! That's a plan!"

"We're out of time. They're coming for the core." Thor grabs my shoulder to turn me around and see Ultron coming with his army of robots.

"Avengers Assem..."

"...time to work for a living." Tony interrupts me again.

"What's with you people interrupting me." I mutter to everyone arriving as I glare especially at Tony.

Pietro is one of the last few to arrive other than Natasha." You good?" He asks Wanda, concerned more for her than himself. Such a shame that type of innocence will eventually be lost to reckless world we live in and the one we swore to protect.

"Romanoff? You and Banner better not be playing hide the zucchini." Tony jokes, teasing both Nat and Bruce, which is mostly our job when we're not busy.

"Relax, Shell-head. Not all of us can fly." She replies as she joins the rest of the team.

"What's the drill?" She asks taking a stand between Clint and I.

Tony and I simultaneously point to the Vibranium core. "This is the drill. If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

"Is that the best you can do?" Thor taunts Ultron.

Ultron summons his large army of robots to join him right in front of us.

Steve turns to Thor with a look that says that he's done with everyone and everything at this point. "You had to ask." Clearly I don't blame him at all.

Ultron rises before his army. "This is the best I can do. This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?"

"How poetic." I mock him under my breath.

Tony stands tall in front of us. "Well, like the old man said. Together." Hulk roars loudly and I power up my escrima sticks and prepare for the violently incoming army of robots. We each use our different methods to destroy the bots as we stand side-by-side protecting the core that means end game for us and the entire world.

Although our main priority is to protect the core, I still stand where I can protect both the core and the twins. They're just kids who mistakenly got dragged into this mess.

As I dismember my group of robots I notice that one of them is ready to jump in front of the speeding Pietro. I tackle it to the ground just in time for Pietro to keep running without stopping.

I put my escrima stick through the bot's head and flip over with both sticks pointing forward to impale another two flying robots.

After I remove my escrimas from their bodies, I connect both sticks to form a staff. I swing it around and destroy over a dozen robots who are desperately trying to touch the core. Seems like black friday almost.

While the rest of us continue to fight the remaining stray bots, Thor, Vision, and Tony chase Ultron outside and they each blast him with their different weapons.

Ultron gets up on his knees with his half melted face. "You know, with the benefit of hindsight...." Suddenly Hulk jumps past me and knocks him far away and the rest of the robots start to retreat. 

"They'll try to leave the city." Thor points to the scourging limping robots running away.

Immediately I throw my staff and it goes through impaling five robots. "We can't let 'em, not even one. Rhodey! Falcon!" I call out to them.

"I'm on it." Both of them reply back at the same time and immediately I see them firing at the fleeing robots.

Steve steps up next to me. "We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers." Everyone nods but we stand where we are and stare at the core.

"I'll be right behind you." I tell Steve once I notice that he's waiting for me.

"What about the core?" Clint hesitantly asks us.

We all stay silent since we know we might not be able to leave the rock alive if we stay behind.

"I'll protect it. It's my job." Wanda volunteers and with that Steve, Clint and Natasha leave to help with the evacuation.

"Get the people on the boats." Wanda orders Pietro but he stubbornly shakes his head. "I'm not going to leave you here."

"I can handle this." She retorts as she blasts off an approaching robot. "Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before."

"Hey, she'll be alright, I'll be here nearby searching for stragglers." I reassure Pietro.

"You know, I'm twelve minutes older than her." He tells me causing Wanda to chuckle. "Go." He chuckles along with her and hesitantly leaves.

"I'll come back I promise." I tell Wanda before taking off to pick up my staff and rapidly searching for anyone left behind.  
"Anyone out there?" I call out and receive no response even with my super hearing and infrared vision.

"We're clear." I inform the rest of the team. "Alright, now get your ass on a boat and help out." Natasha replies. I immediately scoff at her. "Excuse me, but are in no position to tell me what to do after you destroyed my motorcycle."

She stutters for a second. "Uhh, that was an accident, and besides _you_ stole my jacket."

"You could've parked my motorcycle,and that stolen jacket wouldn't have made up for the destroyed bike _and also_ I no longer have that jacket Wanda has it now." I retort.

"Just get your ass on a boat Raven." Steve sighs. "Language." I tease him.

Before leaving I go back to Wanda. "I'm going to help the injured get aboard the life boats. Vision will come get you shortly."

She looks around the abandoned area."Okay, there's not any robots left I think."

God, I really don't want to leave her here alone but I it's my job to save people. "He'll come get you I promise."

I take off sprinting to the nearest life boat when suddenly I hear multiple shots being fired off in the distance. "Ultron is aboard the Quinjet! I repeat. Ultron is aboard the Quinjet!" Natasha desperately warns us.

As I get closer to the life boat, I see Clint carrying an injured boy and preparing to shield him with his body, but that's not the worst part. The worst part is that Pietro is thinking the same thing as me, _to save them._

The worry of letting and innocent die sparks my adrenaline, making me run faster to them. I pull apart my escrimas and set them to the highest counter shockwave level.

I throw them and as soon as the escrimas land behind the car Pietro pushed, they set of a massive shock wave that deflects and slows down the rapidly incoming bullets.

As soon as that shockwave went off, Clint, Pietro and the little boy turn to me shocked and confused. That's when everything around me starts slowing down.

My chest starts burning as if there where a thousand needles going through it, yet my legs feel cold and numb.

My vision begins to blur as a distant figure starst running towards me. "Merly!" It's Steve, his voice sounds as if I were underwater since my ears keep ringing.

I turn back to the other figure in front of me I assume it's Pietro. "You didn't see that coming." I breathe out and shortly after my numb legs give out beneath me and I land on the cold cracked pavement. Everything thing stops except for my vision. Steve's face is only inches away from mine as he keeps saying something which I can't hear at all.

A warm liquid trickles down my cheeks, I don't know if it's his tears or mine or if it's my blood, but it travels down my face as if it where a mother caressing her child before putting it to sleep.

And even though my heart is probably in its last beats it still breaks in half at the thought of my bestfriend crying. And just a second before everything stops, I look into his clear eyes and apologize for everything wrong I did to him.

"I'm sorry."


	25. Abomination

Dozens of news vans crowd the streets of New York along with hundreds of people. "Here we are right outside the Avengers tower. And as you can see here.." The camera then points to all the people being controlled by the police and others holding up signs of gratitude, sadness, and hatred. "...many have gathered here to find out more about the rumored death of one of earth's mightiest heroes." The news reporter says as she looks up to the tower.

"It's a shame to see such brave people go, especially so young. But that's the price they pay for stepping into the battlefield." A woman sobs as she holds a picture of her son in his military suit walking along with The Raven and Captain America.

"She had it coming! For all those people they got killed because of something they created." An angry man yells to the camera as a police officer drags him away.

"They're killers! That's what they are. It's about time one of them rotted in hell!" A woman with a foreign accent yells.

"We just want to know what happened to our hero!" A group of people chant.

"These people have been waiting here all night and day. They just want to know the truth about our hero and what condition she's in..." The television is suddenly shut off by Steve. "Why are they assuming she's dead?" He sniffles as he throws the remote on the table.

Tony turns to him as he puts down his flask. "That tends to happen to people when they get shot at multiple times."

"But her body is still healing itself." Natasha tells him as she rubs her tired puffy eyes.

"But what good does it do if her heart isn't beating? It hasn't for hours." Tony scoffs.

"We still don't know for sure if she might stay dead." Steve says as he looks back into the window of the room where Dr.Cho has been trying to bring Merly back to life with another cradle.

"Well the whole world is pretty much convinced she's dead." Tony adds. He then looks to Thor who is quietly staring outside the window. "Don't worry pal, those people are at the tower. We're at a new base they don't even know exists."

"That's not what I'm worried about." Thor simply replies. Steve walks over to him concerned. "What is it?"

Thor point to the stone on Vision's head. "The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years and Merly has come in contact with half of them. That's not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. But once all these pieces are in position..."

"Triple Yahtzee?" Tony slurs out but is ignored since everyone knows that he was drinking when he locked himself in his room after they told him what happened to Merly.

"I don't think Merly will stay dead for long." He tells everyone in the room.

"Why is that?" Wanda asks, shifting her attention away from Pietro for the first time since they got back from Sokovia.

"Because she's not entirely human." Thor answers as he debates whether or not to tell them the truth about her since it's not really his place to talk about it.

"You mean she might be an alien or a mutant?" Tony asks a bit sarcastically.

"A genetic Inhuman born from an Eternal." Thors says causing everyone to freeze up and stop what they're doing.

Natasha squints her eyes and shakes her head. "That's scientifically impossible."

"Her mother was captured by HYDRA and was experimented on in an attempt to create a superhuman. Out of dozens of failed trials, Raven was the only one who made it through because she had the Inhuman gene." Thor pauses for the others to ask questions but they're too busy processing the sudden information except for Vision.

"Who is her father?" Vision asks intrigued. Thor shrugs. "That I do not know, Loki however might have actually known something. I'm not so sure though."

Vision taps his chin with his finger a few times as he thinks then motions Thor to continue. "Merly was mentally evolving too fast for a normal human being, and Red Skull wanted those abilities for himself so one of the scientists took her away and managed to reverse the effects and destroy the research evidence."

"Mentally evolving?" Steve manages to get the words out through the thick bile rising in his throat.

"Her brain was able to process things faster than the adult mind ever could."

"A rapid mental growth would have killed her." Fury says a bit skeptically.

"Her accelerated healing is what kept her alive."

"She's an abomination. It makes sense why Pierce and Loki wanted her." Natasha looks at Fury knowingly since they were both looking in on that.

"Just how much can she do ?" Pietro asks intrigued for a few seconds forgetting the pain of his injuries.

"I'm not sure since her Inhuman gene isn't properly activated, but it's subconsciously there trying to keep her alive."

Dr.Cho walks into the room. "Well it's not doing a very good job at it."

She looks down, clears her throat and whispers "I'm sorry." Everyone in the room stays still except for Steve who walks out of the room with a few tears escaping his bloodshot eyes.

Natasha tries to go after him but Fury stops her and sits her back down next to Sam who has now taken a seat since he felt that his legs could no longer keep him up.  
Maria Hill spills a few stray tears down her tablet as she sends a quick message to Clint.   
Pietro buries his head between his palms, feeling full of guilt because Merly died saving not only him but Clint and a child he was trying to save.   
Wanda lays her head on Pietro's back and closes her eyes as she rubs small circles on his shoulder as a way to relieve his tense aching back.  
Fury looks at his broken and beaten Avengers, even Vision feels slight emotion over the matter at hand.

This is something they weren't prepared for, yet it was something they knew would eventually happen at some point...  
  


...the fall of an Avenger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our boy Bucky is still out there somewhere, watching the news about his estranged girlfriend dying.   
>  Also I was pathetic at writing angst back then, ugh!


	26. Deal

Not once did I ever think that after death I would wake up in a cool armor, but I did. Weird how strange things can get.

"So what's it gonna be ?" The cloaked woman asks, snapping her fingers at me to get my attention away from the armor as she walks around me. "I should've left you naked." She mumbles under breath but I still hear her anyways.

I refrain myself from saying some witty comment so my eyes just keep following her every move. "Deals like this always turn bad at some point. Like losing my soul for example."

She chuckles. "You watch too much television. No bad turns on this one. I promise." She whispers in my ear causing a shiver down my spine.

"I'll let you keep your strength, speed, and reflexes." She lists out.

"And healing or I might die on the job." I add.

She huffs in annoyance. "Fine, accelerated healing, but don't expect to be like Wade."

"No tricks?" I ask for reassurance for what seems like the 1,000th time since I got here.

She twirls a piece of my hair between her long pale fingers. "No tricks. You simply go back and get him off my ass."

"That might take a while." I tell her honestly since I literally know nothing about this guy, other than he's trying to desperately impress her. "Why do you care if he destroys the earth? There are many planets out there that also contain life. Earth is no longer special."

"Oh but it is! You know it has housed almost half of the infinity stones. I believe Thor Odinson explained it to you, right?" I stare at her and nod in agreement.

I sigh in defeat. "I don't like deals. Favor for Favor." I try persuade her.

"I like you. So be it." She smiles at me a bit overly excited for my comfort. Whatever, as long as I get to go back.

I take one last look around to see the many beautiful stars everywhere as far as the eye can see. Yeah we're on a big piece of rock floating in space. "So I guess I'll see you later."

She chuckles. "I better not see you here for another very long time." She pats my cheek before holding my head between her cold palms.

"Quick question. Can I keep the armor?" I interrupt her before she can send me back.

She rolls her eyes at me. "Yes, you'll need it. Now shush and let me do my job."

She mumbles some weird words that are hard to understand since it's not in any language that I understand.

"Close your eyes." She whispers. I close my eyes and feel instant coldness against my skin and slowly my body begins to be consumed by a paralyzing darkness.  
  



	27. Rebirth

A desperate gasp is the only thing heard as soon as Merly opens her eyes.

She immediately squints her eyes repeatedly in confusion as to why she can't see anything. For a moment she thinks that maybe she might have gone blind, so she calls out for Steve.  
"Steve? Steve?!!!"

She calls out his name a few more times, before she realizes that there is no echo coming back. Either she has gone blind and deaf or she's in a box. A coffin to be precise.

The truth finally dawns on her. "Oh no, no, no." She mumbles as she turns her head but the movements are hard to do since she still has the helmet on, that Death gave her.

She squirms around the coffin in an attempt to remove the helmet, after a few tries she manages to slide it off her _also_ styled hair that she woke up with before meeting Death.

Her breaths start getting more ragged and difficult to take because her space has now limited her movement, causing her to be claustrophobic. Which is something she has hated all her life. Well _past_ life?

"Help Me! Please! Someone Help Me!" She yells out desperately. What is the point of being brought back to life if you're going to suffocate in a coffin?

Suddenly, she recalls a certain moment when Clint was training her and he happened to mention that if she was ever trapped anywhere that she had to jump as far as she could in order to disrupt the balance.

Holding her helmet between her hands above her head, she bends her knees as much as she can and prepares to launch herself upwards. "This better work Barton." She mutters right before jumping.

Althought it's dark, she feels around to know if any helpful damage has been made. Ripped cloth and wooden splinters graze her trembling fingers.  
She continues this process for a couple of minutes til she actually feels the coffin now vertically closer to the surface.

Above ground, the area surrounding her very own 10ft tall glass "headstone" begins to crack with every shift in the ground underneath it. The roses surrounding begin fleeing the area gracefully.

Like a horror flick, her hand emerges from beneath the roses and grasps at the only light gifted by the full moon above.

Once again...  
The Raven has returned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in order to successfully bring someone back to life with the Golden Globe of Life , you have to take someone else's life with the equivalent power as the recently deceased. (According to the comics) And the events of Age of Ultron were relatively close to the events of Jessica Jones season 1. So Kilgrave died around that same time, thus, since was on the same power level as Merly he was used to bring her back, though she won't be as strong as she used to be.


	28. Sequel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of course there's a sequel. I did mention that there's four books total, and they're up on Wattpad already.

There is a sequel that takes place during the events of Captain America: Civil War. It's already complete on Wattpad at [BuckyCinnamonRoll](https://www.wattpad.com/user/BuckyCinnamonRoll) if you would like to head over instead of waiting for me to update her on ao3. There's quite a few chapters, so I get quite tired when copy and pasting onto ao3 since there is no smooth importing from Wattpad to ao3. 

**Author's Note:**

> This will take place during the events of The Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron. I don't own any of the characters besides Merly. Any images, songs, marvel content do not belong to me. I also already completed this work on Wattpad @ BuckyCinnamonRoll


End file.
